~Apron Dress~

Last week I sewed one of my daughter's dresses. I finished it Saturday, and she wanted to wear it. It was cold outside, but why not? We need our spring to get more springy! 

 

I like the way it turned out. It was simple enough. Bias tape application is never my favorite, but I always seem drawn to things with bias tape on them, so I just soldier through.

I made a size 4 in a size 5 length, Butterick B5019. It's a little big, but at the rate my daughter is growing she'll probably outgrow it by the end of the summer! :)

~Spring Fabric~

I have had this pile of yummy spring fabric sitting on my sewing table for a few weeks now! I am so anxious to sew!

The bottom fabric is a piece from IKEA. It has Huge Flowers all over it. My friend that I was with talked me into getting it since I was on the fence about it. I got it with the tentative plans to make a skirt for myself. I warned her that I would blame her if I look ridiculous. ;-)

The other fabrics are for my daughter, to be turned into three spring dresses. The white fabric on top is actually two king size pillowcases. I plan on making a nightie for my daughter out of one of them, and dip dying it with an ombre effect.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was sick for about two weeks. I'd be clutching my coffee or tea, my ear throbbing in pain, and stare at that fabric wishing I could sew. Does that paint a pathetic enough picture? Haha...I was really sick! I am so glad to be well now! Now that I'm caught up on housework, I feel like I finally have the green light to sew! After taking the above picture, I cut an apron dress out of the pink plaid fabric.

~Pinterest Fail~

Have you seen the pin that links to cleaning vinegar? You take the peel from four oranges and put it in a Mason jar (what else, it's Pinterest, right? LOL) and cover the rinds with white vinegar. Two weeks later you have "awesome cleaning vinegar".

I tried it, and failed.

 

 

I can't blame Pinterest, really. I stuck the rinds in there and forgot about them, for longer than 2 weeks, I'm sure! Then my daughter was sick for about a week, then I was sick for two weeks, and...the vinegar got quite scuzzy.

 

I dumped the contents outside, and I must admit that the vinegar didn't smell bad. But it didn't look like something I wanted to clean with either. Maybe next time I try this I'll keep the pickling time to the recommended two weeks. ;-)

~Heart Bookmark~

Made recently, for a friend going through cancer:

A tatted heart bookmark. I found the perfect card to go along with it. Praying is all I really can do - but I do hope that the card and bookmark cheered her day.

~Emma and Her Wardrobe~

A long time ago, I participated in Randi's courthouse steps sew-along. Only, I didn't quite finish my project. One day last week, I spied my unfinished project in a stack and decided to bind the edges and give it to my daughter as a blanket for her doll that we gave her for Christmas.

I had some scraps of binding in my bias tape bin, so I sewed those together and bound the edge. I did a sloppy quick job on the binding, but I don't think Emma minds. ;-) Though, I still have two doll blankets from my childhood, so maybe I should have taken more care. Anyhow...it's done! :)

We got the doll, Emma, from JoAnn's. I highly unrecommend these dolls! But we happened to get a good deal on it so we went with it! I also got the shoes at JoAnn's.

I made all the clothing. That was both fun and challenging. Challenging, in that it was hard to make the clothes and keep everything a secret! By night time I was tired and didn't feel like sewing, and it was dangerous to try to sew during my daughter's "quiet time" (which is usually anything but quiet, that's a work in progress!). In fact, one day after my daughter's quiet time, I quickly put all my sewing stuff away, and while I was in the other room she went into my room and spotted the doll on my bed! She asked my husband, "It doesn't have any clothes. Is Mommy making clothes for it?"

But, all got finished in time for Christmas (with two days to spare!). I had to buy velcro and elastic, otherwise I had all the materials and trims to make the clothes.

I used Simplicity 2296 for the lavender tunic and pants, and Simplicity 4347 for everything else. The latter pattern is a reprint of a vintage pattern, so that was fun. :) I did modify some of the directions to make it easier to sew, as well as use velcro (the pattern called for snaps). I didn't want my daughter to be frustrated in getting the clothes on and off!

~Happy Valentine's Day~

Valentine's Day is not the biggest deal around here, but this year I decided to make my daughter a Valentine's skirt. I had the fabric - one yard of fabric with a deep border printed on both sides of the salvage - so I quickly whipped up a very full skirt.

My daughter loves it! So much so, that she's already worn it and I had to run it through the wash yesterday to ensure that she could wear it today!

 

 

I have a feeling that it will get plenty of use, regardless of the holiday-themed print!

~Chocolate Covered Strawberries~

I've been reading The Frugal Girl lately, and she just posted about making chocolate-covered strawberries. And, she got the ingredients at Aldi. Plus, I was going there today. So...what to do but make some for dessert?

They were so good! There were leftovers too, so we'll see how those fare in the fridge!

And on the subject of Aldi: I haven't shopped there for quite a while, but when I started reading Kristen's blog, and saw the different things she was getting, I decided to stop by and try shopping there again. I think my Aldi might not have a very high turnover on their produce, so some of it leaves a little to be desired. But if I'm choosy, I can still get good-quality produce for better prices, so I've been shopping there a bit more if I have the time.

~Hair Bling~

Quite a while back, I asked a "what would you do" type of question on my blog. Gray hair coming in, what should I do??? Well, two years of not pulling my gray hairs nor coloring has given me what I call "hair bling". At this point, I'm honestly not that gray white. It doesn't really show up on pictures otherwise I'd show you. ;-) But I do have quite a few sparkly hairs. They're the length of my hair cut, and multiplying rapidly.

I decided to just let my hair be natural, at least for now. However, I do reserve the right to color my hair if I so wish. ;-) The grays really don't bother me at the moment!

I was talking with my mom a while back and she told me a story of her mom, and how when my mom was a teenager, my grandma ruined an outfit with semi-permanent hair dye because it all rubbed off on her collar. After that, my grandma decided to just let her hair be. I always loved my grandma's hair, especially when she was older. It was so white and pretty! I think, knowing what a beautiful person my grandma was (inside and out), and knowing that she was confident enough to not dye her hair, has helped me make the decision to not dye.

I found this interesting blog post: The History of Hair Color. Looks like women have been dying their hair for thousands and thousands of years. But that doesn't mean I have to. :D

~Steam Mop~

A steam mop is something that I have wanted for a long time. We only have two carpeted rooms in our house, so the thought of using a steam mop rather than a mop and bucket really appealed to me. I decided to use my Christmas money on a steam mop. I looked at the reviews on Amazon, and the one that stood out as the best for my money was the Eureka Enviro steam mop:



When I got it, I was so excited to use it. It cleaned my wood floors so well! I moved on to my kitchen, ignoring the all caps warning: NOT FOR USE ON VINYL STICK-ON TILES. Bah, what was it going to do? I figured I wouldn't keep the mop in one place for long, just in case. While I was mopping, I needed to change the outlet where it was plugged in. I forgot to put the mop on the little tray it comes with. Five minutes after I had finished mopping, I walked through the kitchen and saw a tile peeling off the floor. Great...I guess the warning was for good reason! What were the previous owners thinking when they used those silly tiles anyhow???

Overall, I'm very happy with this mop. The steam works to get stuck-on food and stickers off the floor very well (the random princess stickers, you know...not that I have stickers plastered all over my floor or anything, but occasionally I'll have a rogue princess get stuck to my floor). I love the fact that it cleans with just water, no chemicals or cleaners. Because of the size it doesn't get in tight corners very well, and it doesn't clean the best right by the baseboard (but I suppose that would be true of any mop). It doesn't fit under cupboards, which isn't really an issue for me seeing that I'm not supposed to use it on my kitchen flooring anyhow! LOL My floors feel so much cleaner now!

Please note: links above are my Amazon referral links. I purchased this item with my own money.

~Felt + Glue Gun = Flowers~

I own a glue gun, but it is one of those low-heat ones, so while the glue won't burn you, neither will it stick to much of anything. It's pretty pointless. So needless to say I don't do much "crafting".

At my last MOPS meeting, the craft was flowers. I have made a few flowers out of organza, but not felt. There were three types of flowers demonstrated, and I tried all three, plus a variation on one of them. Fun times!

I have decided a proper glue gun is necessary. Crafting is fun! Especially if you don't burn your fingers....several at my table were passing an ice cube around but thankfully I kept my fingers away from the molten lava. ;-)

I didn't realize till I had glued the last hair clip on, but there were pins at each table too. I would have put a pin on the purple flower so that I could wear it. But it has a hair clip on it and my daughter has happily claimed all four. :-)

~Shop Notes: Cross Bookmarks~

It has been a very long time since I've had anything in my Etsy shop! I decided to list some crocheted cross bookmarks - so head on over and take a look. :)



These bookmarks fit nicely in a card, and will not require extra postage (if mailing just one).

~End of the Month~

Wow, it seems like I just put my new calendar on the fridge and tomorrow I'm already turning ahead one month.

For the past few years I've bought Susan Branch calendars. I like the artwork and I look forward to turning to a new month and reading all the little things on the calendar. I embraced "Be a Homebody" this month, I think. I haven't been out much at all, and I've been focusing on keeping my home neat and orderly. Something that is helping is The Confident Mom planner which I purchased after we got back from California.

Today I was browsing through my Pinterest "Recipes to Try" board, and came across Cardamom Lassi. I have never tried it till today. I cut the recipe in half, for one serving. I'll definitely be making this again! In looking through my board, I realized I need to create several more recipe boards by category. I have 360 recipes pinned - it takes a while to look through!

A little project I completed recently:

My sister and her new husband gave me a gift card to Hobby Lobby for Christmas. I wanted to do something fun, and something new to me. I bought a canvas, paint, and Collage Pauge (cheaper than Mod Podge but no less corny in name).

I used a hymn that is dear to my heart and added two stickers. For the hymn, I just cut it out of an old hymnal I had. I wanted to do a bird silhouette or cut-out, but I couldn't find any at Hobby Lobby (and I didn't feel like cutting one out myself!)

I brushed the Collage Pauge over the stickers, you can't really tell they are stickers unless you are looking very closely, like so:

I hung it in my kitchen by the kitchen sink, and I can reflect on the words each time I do dishes!

After reading Six Ways to Keep the "Little"in Your Girl, I've been trying to play more with my daughter. It's something I'm not very good at, but I'm working on it. Today, the princesses went to the farm:

What I'm learning is that it really doesn't take much imagination on my part to make my daughter happy. Today, I set the farm up, and she brought the princesses to visit. They were ecstatic to see the cows and horse. ;-)

Looking ahead to February - more snow, more cold, and more knitting and sewing. :-) I have several projects planned for Valentine's, now I just need to do them!

~Staples~

No, not the office store. And not the medical kind either, thank goodness!

The kitchen kind. *smiles*

Over the last year or so, I have learned to enjoy puttering about in the kitchen. I have always cooked more or less from scratch, but I am loving making even more from scratch. Like bread. With my KitchenAid Mixer, it is so easy to make up a loaf of bread! And I can ensure that the ingredients in it are so much better than the store loaves!

Today some plans fell through with a friend, and I found myself with a clean house, dinner in the crockpot, and a lot of extra time on my hands.

So...I set to making my kitchen a mess again making staples.

The first thing was to mix up a container of chocolate oatmeal. I have the recipe written right on the container. Easy peasy.
To warm up the kitchen, I made granola using my basic recipe (with coconut oil rather than butter, and honey for sweetener), added some hazelnuts toward the end, and mixed in chocolate chips while the granola was still warm.
Followed by two loaves of wheat bread (the warm kitchen helped the bread rise beautifully).
Tested out a bagel recipe (meh). I need to come up with a different recipe if I want to continue making bagels.
And then I completed my afternoon in the kitchen by making some elderberry syrup. My daughter is coming down with the sniffles so hopefully this will ward off the worst of her cold.

And lest you think every day is this marvelous for me in the kitchen, just know that the other night we had Little Caesar's pizza for dinner.
;-)

~California~

As I mentioned in a previous post, we went to California after Christmas. The primary reason we went was to attend (and be in) my sister's wedding.

We had a lovely visit in California!

One of the things we did was to make a brief trip to the coast. We visited our very favorite beach at Carmel-by-the Sea. The day was perfect for a coastal visit. It was warm and sunny. We took along my youngest sister, and she played with our daughter while we went for a little walk, and then Kevin took our daughter, and my sister and I went for a walk. All our daughter was interested in doing was getting wet. Walking? That's for the birds! LOL

The view was, as always, fantastic!

Otherwise, the rest of our trip was spent with family. My mom and I played several games of Boggle. One time we played with one of my sisters and my brother. It was hilarious because my dad found a Boggle cheater site and so he was rushing over looking at the letters, and then trying to surreptitiously give my brother a long list of words . Only thing, it wasn't very sneaky-like and instead we all ended up laughing.

The wedding was beautiful. I was a bridesmaid and my daughter was the flower girl. She did a tremendous job sprinkling flower petals down the aisle, and then stood at the front for the entire wedding. I thought my shoes were comfortable but by the time the wedding was over and it was time to walk back down the aisle I was starting to worry about falling over!

We stayed with my aunt and uncle, and they were so hospitable. We were so grateful they opened their home to us - with the number of married siblings and guests, my parent's house was packed full already!

We spent some time with my grandparents as well. My grandpa (Mom's dad) is doing pretty well. We went out to lunch with him (just Kevin and me). We also visited my dad's parents. Visiting my grandpa is always so very hard for me. He has dementia and every time I see him it has progressed so much further. This time he didn't really remember me or interact with me. The one thing he can do is play the piano - it really is amazing how your brain can remember things for you even when your memory has failed you. But even though it was hard to see him, I was so glad we got to see him.

Weddings are always such a busy time to visit family, but in the end we had some great moments of quality time. Next time we visit I do hope it is less busy, but I'm so glad that we were able to go!

~Sleeping Monkeys~

As soon as I cast off my Jaywalkers, I started another sock project (Ravelry link), Sleeping Monkeys....so named because the colorway of the yarn is "Lullaby" and the pattern is "Monkey".

This pair is very promising. The yarn is a bit thicker, the needles are a size bigger, and the knitting is going very fast.

By fast, I mean, really, really fast (at least for me!). The photo above was taken Tuesday afternoon, and the one below just yesterday afternoon:

I've seen this pattern done up with all knit stitches and I love how fast it makes the pattern repeats. Here's a close up of the pattern:

Compared to the pattern worked as written:

I'm hoping to have a new pair of socks very soon!

~"Fancy" Breakfast~

Recently I saw a post over at Simple Kids titled 5 Healthier Breakfast Options, and I decided to give the parfaits a try.

As soon as my daughter saw what I was doing, it changed from "Breakfast" to "Party" and we had to eat our parfaits in the living room at the coffee table (because that's the happening party place, don't you know).

We enjoyed our parfaits (vanilla yogurt, blueberry fruit spread from last summer, and granola I had made the day before). While breakfast isn't typically a struggle, it was nice to have something fun and easy.

~FFO~

FFO = Finally Finished Object (my own acronym)

We went to California after Christmas (more on that in another post), and I took along my Oatmeal and Brown Sugar socks (Ravelry link) to work on. On one flight, Kevin was with our daughter and I sat in the row behind.  I blissfully knit while he changed DVD's, helped with the juice and snacks, and dressed her dolls. It was quite relaxing, I must say.
:-)

At the start of the trip, I had one sock finished and the second sock worked up to the heel. It was my goal to get the sock finished during our trip. It didn't quite happen, but I had it nearly completed by the time we returned.

I've been "knitting" these socks for ages - my start date was May, 2010. I didn't get SSS (Second Sock Syndrome), I got SS (Sock Syndrome - again, my own acronym! LOL).

At the start of this new year I didn't sit down and write a list of resolutions, but I did do a little thinking. I realized that I need to do more of the things that I enjoy. I love knitting but it's really been put on hold over the last few years. So this year I hope to accomplish more projects that are just for me.

These socks do not fit perfectly. Honestly I am just glad they are done! After taking nearly 3 years to finish, I was not going to rip them back so that I could take 1/4" off the length! They are what they are, and I'm moving forward with new projects!

~Merry Christmas~

A little peek into my home

Wishing my blog readers a lovely Christmas!

I know that Christmas may be hard for some this year; perhaps you are missing a loved one, in a difficult relationship, in hard financial times, or have an unfulfilled desire. Praying just now that those who read this will be filled with peace which only God can bring, and that your heart's burden will be lifted.

Love and hugs!

~Today~

This morning:

 

Enjoying a cup of Celestial Seasoning's Candy Cane Lane tea
Little Girl watching Little Bear
Wondering how it can only be four days till Christmas
Feeling like I've got it together because I have a chicken in the crockpot (there's something empowering about having dinner started at 8:30 am!)
Looking for a recipe with potatoes + fennel to go along with my chicken
Thinking about all I need to do today (that brings my feelings of all-togetherness down a few notches)
Feeling so blessed as I realize today is my parent's 38th wedding anniversary

Much to do! Have a blessed day!

~Crackers, and a New Cookbook~

I made crackers to go with dinner last night (pea soup). I made them in the afternoon so I wouldn't be scrambling to get them on the table. Funny thing, my soup which had been in the crockpot all day long was not done. *sigh* So I had to cook it on the stovetop...

Anyhow, my crackers turned out oh-so-lovely.

They're crispy and crunchy and slightly flaky and perfectly olive-oily. The recipe came from this book:

 The Homemade Pantry

My new favorite cookbook! I put it on hold at the library and it took forever to get it and then of course I couldn't renew it since there were holds on it. I wanted to make every single recipe (well, almost every single recipe) and three weeks at a time just wasn't enough for me! So I bought it with birthday money!

(Link above is my affiliate link through Amazon.)