end of the summer

Well, it's coming isn't it? the end of summer, not so bad but this year I really enjoyed the summer with hanging my clothes out to dry and doing a lot more homemade things this summer. Here in the northwest it just is so damp and cold and gray it is hard for me to be outside once winter is here. I have begun my Bible study and really am loving that. I go to BSF and you can find the link in the right side bar to go to their site and find a class in your area. I have done a bit of sewing and just need to take some pictures... I also have an idea how to use the bags our coffee beans come in so stay tuned.

Please check out "Little Beauty of a giveaway!"

Please go check out the giveaway at sewtakeahike. Penny is giving away a beautiful apron, some fabric and a few other goodies, you just must go take a peek. Be sure to enter too!
Sandy

Hanging out to dry....

Well, it's up! Yes I'm excited about a clothesline being put up and having a fresh load of towels hanging out to dry. I have wanted one for awhile but you know, here in the northwest(Seattle area) we really don't have a lot of dry days, but this summer has been dry and hot so I talked to my honey and he agreed to put one up for me. Sure it is money saving but also just fun to hang out my own clothes... oh yes, and how green of me :)

Coffee Art

Maybe you have seen the coffee art before but it is fun to watch. Here is a link for a video.

This cup is mine, and I have had no luck in making such lovely art work... but sometimes it happens on accident. So, here is my angel fish.

What I do while watching TV.

Sometimes we watch a movie for a second time :) I can trace or cut paper while watching. So I have a few templates from Making memories, but you can just take any envelope and open it up and use it as a pattern. (I have heard if you put a sealed envelope in the freezer for a few minutes it will open easily, let me know if you try it and if it works) Then I just use the stack of magazines or flyer's that come in the mail and find a nice picture or pattern and trace it, then fold it up and glue it up. I seal them with either glue or tape when I mail them. Cutting them out.
All folded up and read to use
for small gift cards, or mailing.

Aromatherapy

Lets talk about aromatherapy....... Sure I'd heard of it and wondered about it.... but I thought that it was about feel good fragrance. But, my youngest daughter is working now and she suffers greatly from migraines. So one night she came home and told me about this gal she works with and how she put some peppermint oil on her temples and her headache got better so she could work. Then a week or so later she dropped something on her foot here at home and she went to work and the same lady put some lavender essential oil on her foot and the bruise actually got better. Truly, I was surprised and well for me anything that helps her migraines is worth looking in to and trying. So, I bought a couple of essential oil from the health food store and I got some wintergreen essential oil and almond carrier oil and tired that for the pain in my joints due to fibromyalgia and to my amazement it helped! I also tried anise for sore muscles. So I have ordered a few more essential oils that I feel are a higher quality and I'm reading and learning about essential oils. Oh, I have to also tell you that I burned my hand cooking and applied lavender 'neat' which means just plain not in a carrier oil and it soothed it and also it did not make a blister and it's healing really nicely now.
I would love to hear your comments as to what you have tried or your thoughts on this subject

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you all had a happy 4th of July. And for those that wear aprons I hope you wore a patriotic one. I have done a few crafty things the last few days, and want to take some pictures and get them posted but it might take till Tuesday. Have a great weekend!

Pin cushion jar

Yep, another pin cushion :)

Here are the things I got out to start with.

Cut out the batting, I cut it out in a circle so it would be smooth on top and found that I wanted it 'fluffy' so I added several layers, I found that the fabric piece I had out was too small, so this is a larger scrap.

I glued it to the lid, and then put it in the ring, gluing the edges down and then I cut a circle out to make it neater.

Here it is all finished, with the lid on. I did take it off so it will dry completely and not get stuck on the jar.

Homemade Marshmallows

Oh this was so fun, my daughter and I made our own marshmallows! We saw Alton Brown make them on Good Eats and just thought hey lets try. They taste good too! Here's the recipe.

Homemade Foot Scrub

Along the lines of making things at home, I thought I'd try making my own foot scrub. I looked up many on the web most of them have sugar or salt, something for the scrub part like corn meal, ground nuts, coffee grounds. Then an oil like olive or almond or many others oils.

The first one I made I wont share pictures because by the time I made it up it looked like mud. Coffee grounds, sugar and olive oil. It worked fine but I found it stained my white washcloths so I had to come up with something else.

This one is corn meal 1/4 cup, 1 tablespoon raw sugar and then enough almond oil(the body oil type from the health food store) to pull it together I would say about 2 teaspoons.




Here is what it looks like but wow does it smell yummy :) It's really nice, I like this one a lot.







Let me know if you try this and what you think?

Patriotic Apron

This is an apron I made for the upcoming 4th of July.

Applique apron

Here is an apron made with my embroidery machine, Husqvarna Designer 1. I used a design from Embroidery library. I did watch the how to video they have on their site, it was very helpful.

Homemade hand soap

I'm sure that everyone has noticed the rising; gas, milk, egg prices etc....
So I have been thinking, where I can save some money?
I am going to price this out to compare:
a 12 pack of Ivory soap $2.47
glycerin 6oz $2.84
water

I only used 1 bar of soap 0.20
1 teaspoon(1/3 of an ounce) of glycerin 0.16
total cost 0.36 cents
for six cups of liquid hand soap.

I did not price hand soap a the store so here it is from the web

Soft soap refill 40oz $7.79 @ drugstore.com
$ 7.79 divide by 40oz is 0.19 cents an ounce

Our homemade soap made 6 cups so that is 6 times 8oz = 48 ozs
So 0.36 cents for 48oz divided by 48oz = 0.0075 per ounce so less that 1 cent an ounce
Not too bad.

Ok so here is where I got my recipe

You see my purchases.
I just used my kitchen grater, and then washed in the dishwasher and it was very clean :)
then I put one cup boiling water and the grated soap bar in my blender, blended then let rest... after 20minutes added the glycerin, then added water to fill up to the six cup mark.
I just poured it in a container for now. I did refill some of our soap pumps with it and it's working great, I will see how the family likes it over time.
Very simple and makes me feel good about saving some money around here.
Let me know if you try it out and what you think?

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!!!

I wish all the Dad's out there Happy Father's Day today. My own father has gone on to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I miss his very much. My Dad was a wonderful man, and a great Dad.
Today I wish my wonderful husband Happy Father's Day! God has blessed me with a committed partner, a good Daddy to our children and I love him very much! We are blessed to have been married 24 years, it will be 25 this August!

Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction;

pay attention and gain understanding.
Proverbs 4:1

Yeah!

Yes, I know I am funny. But I saw this insulated tumbler at Starbuck's about two weeks ago and really wanted it but thought ok do I really NEED this. So I came home and thought about it and decided I did NEED it :) A few days later went to buy it and it was sold out, I could not find one anywhere I looked, I even checked Starbucks online and no luck. Oh sure there was one on ebay but I am not going to pay $30.00 + 8.00 shipping for it. So I was whining and stuff, and my daughter was able to locate one for me YEAH! So here it is :) I know silly but cool cup huh?

I need pin cushions!!

So, all my pins end up on this pin cushion, that I picked up at JoAnn's. I think since it's always by my sewing machine and within easy reach is why it's the most used. What happens is I take out all the pins as I sew and then when I need to do my pinning I have none to pin with and this one has the little bag for scraps so I don't take it to the table to cut out fabric.... so I do need more pin cushions.

Here we go, just take an old tea cup.
I used the saucer to cut out my circle
Then take some batting and roll it up.
I gathered up the edge and pulled the thread to make a ball.
Glue the cup to the saucer and glue the fabric ball to the cup, oh and I did put more batting in the bottom of the cup to raise it up a bit. Ta-da!

I'm sure there are tutorials out there but thought it would be fun.

Furoshiki Father's Day gift

Wrapping my honey's Fathers Day gift, I decide to use Furoshiki wrapping with fabric.

I picked out a 'fishing' fabric.
Simply wrapped it around and folded up the sides to be tied on top and I tried to show how I tucked in the sides.
Here is it finished, I can't share what is in it because he might read this blog and it would be spoiled. :)

here are two links the first has a video which is helpful this second has several ways to wrap up gifts.

Vintage machine embroidery

This weekend I did some machine embroidery on flour sacks. Yes, I know I did not iron them, and coming from me that is a bigger deal than you know if you talk to my children :) When I was working, years ago on a job evaluation my boss wrote that I was always neat and my lab coat was always pressed. So if you talk to my children they will say that I believe ironing your clothes can make all the difference from a job interview to making your clothes fit better :) anyway... I chose not to iron them because they are kitchen towels and I will use them for cleaning up messes and I won't iron them when I get the out of the dryer.

Random thoughts....

This weekend has been so far; about getting things in order for me. I spent yesterday cleaning out, throwing out and reorganizing things here at my house. Oh, I am thankful I have a great hubby that helped a lot! But it really makes me thinking all this "stuff" we needed (ha) a the time and now it is just in the way.... and that made me think about the economy which everyone is thinking and talking about right now, rising prices in gas of course and really all goods that we buy.
So what am I doing to help with costs here? Making my own laundry soap for one, it is actually fun. Grouping all my trips to the store and that means I spend a lot more full days at home.
What are you doing at this time? how are you saving? cutting back?

Today I am going to plant some flowers out front, there is a flower box right out side my sewing window and it will really be cheerful I think!

RicRak apron

I has a small remnant of this colorful pink and brown fabric and wanted to use it in an apron so this is what I came up with.

also an apron challenge is responsible for getting me started on ric rack!!

Pot holder tutorial

Here is my tutorial on recycling jeans into a potholder.

I find a finished size of about 8 inches by 7 is about right but it can be 7 by 6.5inches or whatever you like.

Find an old pair of jeans, and cut the leg out measure out an piece 17 inches by 7.5 inches if you have it or you can cut two pieces 8.5 inches by 7.5 inches each. Then I did some machine embroidery or you can hand embroidery or iron on a patch or leave in plain. (the design I used is from Embroidery library).



Here I just made sure there was enough when I folded it in half, then I trimmed it up.


You can see here that the finished size is just a little smaller, and thicker.


Next I press down one side just over 1/4 inch. this will be the side we use to turn it through.


This is what you will have; the left side is just folded over so will not need to sew that one and the right side has the edges turned in and pressed.



Next we cut a piece of Insul-Bright Insulation you NEED this stuff if you are really going to use these pot holders, it keeps the heat from getting to your hands. I used a layer of this and then also used a layer of old cloth you can use a dishtowel or old bath towel but you must also use the InsulBright just the dishcloth alone is not enough and I would not want you to get burned. Also just a note do not use a potholder if it is wet!! the heat from a hot pan will go right through it and burn you (yeah I learned that the hard way).

Turn right sides together and place old dish cloth and InsulBright down.

You will notice that I did not put the InsulBright and towel up against the fold, I found that if you did you get a lump in your finished project.



Next pin it together so you will not have shifting and using a walking foot sew the top and bottom sides.



I used dark thread so you can see it here, then trim the InsulBright and towel as close as you can to the stitching and trim the corners, but NOT the two corner where you have left the opening for turning.
Turn right side out.



I place a folded piece of twill at the top right of the pot holder to make a loop.



Then stitch around all four side and your finished.

Just a note here, when using hot pans and pot holders you have to be smart; remember safety first, use good judgement and if it is starting to feel warm put it down!! You can always use two pot holders at a time if it is a hot and heavy pan you are lifting. I am giving directions for pot holders I make and use myself but can not be responsible for burns and misuse of pot holder.

Book tote

As you remember I made a tote bag for my husband see post from May 22, 2008. I really liked it, just loved all the pockets. So I made one for myself, using home decor fabric it was a bit thick to sew through but it worked out fine. I used the same book as the earlier mentioned post but I squared the bottom so it would sit up.

I get more done with a plan!

Last night I sketched out a couple of things I wanted to do, the first was an apron (what else? ha) I used a pattern from a sweet gal here is where you can find it. I didn't have enough fabric to make the great pleat at the bottom or to make the waist and ties to match so I mixed and matched.

Then.......

So this is my little potholder, I did some machine embroidery and put the insulate in and just stitched it up.