~Staple Dress~

A friend's church has a hobby night about once a month, and I try to go when I can. There are several reasons: not only do I Get to Talk to Grownups and Get Things Done, but I get to Eat Yummy Treats. And also? I get to Skip Bedtime (my daughter's bedtime, that is!). So it's a great chance to get out of the house!

This weekend I lugged my machine, iron, fabric, pattern, pins, etc. and made a dress! When I came home all I had left was the hem and the shirring. I finished it Saturday and wore it Sunday.

If you look closely, the belt is not quite covering the shirring.
I had trouble getting the shirring in the right spot,
but I think that if I had a wider belt it would cover this issue.

This pattern, the Staple Dress, is a fun sew. No buttons and buttonholes, or zippers; no darts or sleeves. Honestly it only took me four hours to make because I was talking. Oh, and eating. :-P

I mentioned before, that I won the pattern in a blog giveaway, and that the fabric was some I had on hand. The fabric is a cotton, but it has something stretchy in it as well. It isn't stretchy like a knit, maybe just a little spandex? I'm not sure. I happened to have matching thread, and the elastic thread for shirring. It's always nice when I have everything I need on hand!

Because my serger is still at the machine shop, I followed the directions and did French seams. With regular seams finished with overlocking (and no talking, just sewing!) this dress could go together very, very quickly.

 

I came home high on caffeine and giddy that I'd made myself a dress. :-) I'm pretty sure this is the first dress that I've made for myself since the 90's! I've made clothing items since then, of course, but not a dress. I'm looking forward to getting some more sewing projects done in the coming weeks! I've been so busy canning I haven't spent time sewing, and I truly miss it!

~Thinking about...Crocheting~

The other night I pulled out a stack of crochet booklets I have and looked through them.

Crochet Fantasy! March 1986! Goods that are great for BAZAARS!!!

Besides some little doilies, handkerchief edgings, and hideous stuffed animals, there is this beauty:

 

Don't you love that sweater? The sleeves look so cozy, almost like an afghan. No, wait. The shawl on the left is what caught my eye. Truly, I think it is beautiful. Would it be too much like wearing a giant doily? I don't know. But the current trend for wearing shawls is to wear them backwards (what would our grandmothers think?) as a scarf.

And the second thing I'm thinking about is this tablecloth. It is made up of 4" squares, so it wouldn't be too daunting.

So...those are two projects I'm thinking about! I don't know if I'll do more than think about them, but it's fun to dream sometimes! :-)

~Thinking about sewing~

A few weeks ago I was doing laundry, and I noticed one of the rags that came through was really, well...raggy on the edges. So I serged the edges. Actually, I serged one edge. The other edge messed up my machine. Oh, the irony of trying to make a worthless rag look nicer only to break my machine!

I got word back from the sewing machine shop today that the blades are messed up and since they don't have them in the store it will take about another week before I have my machine.

I haven't sewn much of anything this summer. But faced with the fact that my machine is in the shop, I keep wanting to sew!

I think this will be my next project:

I won the pattern in a blog giveaway, and the fabric is some I was given. I think this will make a nice fall dress (with a sweater). I don't plan on doing the high-low hem version. :)

~Blah, blah, blah~

Well, then! Happy fall and happy 1st day of October! :-)

Thing have been busy around here! I have been canning my little heart out. I love canning, then I dislike canning, but I love it all the more after seeing all the rows of canned produce on my counter! I love it more than I dislike it so I keep on going! Interested to see the list of things I've canned so far? You can click over to my page, Putting Food Up - 2013. My jar count is at 205 right now. I've yet to get apples for applesauce, and I would really like to get some more Concord grapes to make some jelly. Oh, and I would love to can some more beans!

I read canning recipes in the winter and dream of canning in the summer. My main "dislike" with canning is truly the accompanying dishes. It seems like my whole summer's story has been, "Do the dishes so I can can; do the dishes from canning". LOL

I've mostly had enough jars, though I had to buy a dozen pints, and a dozen jam jars. Not too bad. I dug into jars I bought off Craigslist a few summers back, and thought it was funny to be canning in "antique" jars that are as old as myself:

A friend has Concord grapes, and kindly offered some to me. I canned 14 quarts of grape juice:

My friend makes her juice this way, and I'm anxious to see how it turns out. One jar unsealed when I was putting them down in the basement - the jar had a tiny chip on the inside. The juice wasn't very strong, but from what I read you're supposed to wait 3-4 weeks before opening it. I got some mineral water and made "soda" for my daughter and myself. Since we don't drink real soda, she was easily convinced. ;-)

And then, moving on to other randomness: I picked up a new pair of glasses tonight. They are quite a departure from my other glasses!

My daughter asked me to measure her recently,

making me realize that the reason she's been proverbially eating us out of house and home is that she grew 3/4" in a little over a month!

Well, that's it for randomness for now! Happy fall, y'all!

~CC Update~

Since I posted that we would be doing Classical Conversations, I wanted to post a little update!

Today was week #2 for our Classical Conversation classes. So far it is going so well. I ended up with six little students in my class. I have the 4's and young 5's, including my own daughter. Initially, I wanted to tutor my daughter's class because I wanted to do CC with her at our campus as well as at home. However, I have come to see that this will present its own set of challenges. But that's ok! We hit a little bump in the road today toward the end of class, but otherwise things have gone fairly well. We'll see what I say in another month. ;-)

I was so overwhelmed before everything got started. Last week, before our first class, I was in tears sobbing to Kevin that "I just can't do this. I don't know what I was thinking when I said I would do it!". I sent off an SOS email to a friend who is a few weeks ahead of me, tutoring in CC as well. She called me and reassured me and sent me some extra links to help me along.

On Tuesday morning, I did it. :-) I was exhausted, but I tutored the class and covered all the subjects!

Last night, I wasn't in tears, but I again was bemoaning to Kevin, "I just can't do this. I don't know what I was thinking when I said I would do it!". And then, I got everything pulled together, and guess what? I did it all over again this morning. :-D

I'm not really afraid of the little four year olds, with their cute little faces looking at me in expectation. No, it is the parents! What are they thinking? Some of them have said to me, "WOW you are so brave!" and "THANK YOU!" so maybe the parents aren't as scary now!

So, after my second week of tutoring, I can say that I am glad that I'm doing this! Stepping outside of my comfort zone is stretching me, but in a good way. I'm thankful for this opportunity to connect with other homeschoolers and families.

~Pansies~

Did you know that if you plant pansies in the fall, they'll bloom again the spring? I've wanted to plant pansies in the fall for quite a few years now, but until this year I haven't done so.

Saturday I had a little time to myself, and one of the things I did was stop by the nursery and pick up some pansies. I cleared out some of the summer flowers, and planted my pansies. I didn't do a lot of yard work, but it was nice to get the flower beds in the front somewhat ready for fall. There are still more flowers that will need to come out, but that can wait till after our first frost!

~Cherry Peds~

Today I finished a pair of socks! All I had to do was kitchener one toe closed. That's it! I already had all the other ends woven in, and the other sock was finished.

 

I love how closely the stripes match up!

When I got the yarn at Hobby Lobby, I wanted a simple footy, so I wouldn't have a ton of knitting to do, but also because I don't like long cuffs on my socks, even in the winter. So I searched and searched and ended up using a pattern I had favorited on Ravelry a long time ago. Doesn't that figure!

The second sock had a very tiny amount of brown striping on the toe. That bothered me a lot because the other toe did not have that striping. But when I finally got them off the needles and on my feet, I realized something: I can't see that color variation when they are on!

So--another pair of socks to tuck into my drawer and wait for cooler weather (though we've had plenty of cool weather this summer!).

Yarn: Cherry Sours by Paton Stretch Sock
Pattern: Pom Pom Peds by The Purl Bee
Needles: US 2

More project details here (Ravelry link).

~Garden Update~

The last two years, we had a spot at a community garden. When they raised their prices, we started looking for a different community garden. But the others were just too far away. So then we discussed our yard. While it isn't "perfect" it has been a great option for us. Our back yard is too shaded, so the only option was our side yard.

This picture was taken about a month or so ago, but it gives a good idea of what our garden is doing:

 

Unfortunately, the soil at the very back was not very supportive for the crops we had, so our yield for that area was not that great. The zucchini and corn have been taken out. The green beans had a slow start but are now producing well. We have three varieties of tomatoes which are all doing well, plus a cherry tomato. I've been canning and putting up tomatoes like crazy. The peppers went bonkers, as have the tomatillos. We tried a new variety of bean this year, a golden bean, and they have produced well also. Our cucumbers didn't do very well, in fact I ended up buying a peck of cucumbers so I could get the pickles I wanted.

 

The radishes, carrots, green onions, and sugar peas all did well this spring. We talked about planting more for reaping in the fall, but we didn't do that this year. Maybe next!

 

All in all, it has been a good first year of gardening from our yard! Next year, we hope to build raised beds and bring in some good soil, enhancing it with compost from our compost bin.

 

Our weather this summer has been very cool, so some plants have been quite slow to produce. But that's ok - if the tomatoes were coming on any faster I would go crazy. ;-)

~Spiral Binding~

It's the little things in life that make me happy. Case in point:

Spiral binding!!!!!!!!!

I had the brilliant idea to get my canning book spiral bound. I use this book often throughout the canning season, and it is always a fight to get the book to stay open. A quick call to the copy shop and voila! No more holding the book open with other objects!

It even flips nicely, so I can use up less counter space with my recipe book:

This is the next book to get the beauty treatment:

It cost right around $5 to get it done. I definitely feel like it is worth it for a well-used book. I also think book publishers should take user-friendliness into account. But, when they don't, this is a good option!

(Affiliate link in post)

~Classical Conversations~

Last night, I was at a planning meeting, which involved this book:

Eeps!

We are going to be involved in Classical Conversations this year, and not only will my daughter be enrolled as a student, but I will be tutoring. It is exciting. And a little nerve-wracking (the tutoring aspect)! My husband and I really feel God is leading us down this path though, so I am trusting in Him that He will help me through! :)

It's a little difficult to explain in a few sentences, but Classical Conversations is a homeschool curriculum/group/method that endeavors to teach students classically. I'm still learning a lot about what makes the difference between a classical education vs. the typical education model in most schools. I really like what I see and I feel like it is a good match for our family.

We will be meeting with our group once a week, broken down into age groups, and each class will have 2 1/2 hours in which new material is presented for the week, a science experiment is performed, and fine arts is studied. The motto for Classical Conversations is, "To know God and Make Him Known." I love that.

Many years prior to our daughter's birth, Kevin and I had discussed our desire to homeschool. But when our daughter was just a baby, we discussed in earnest the whys and hows of homeschooling. We knew that since most likely our daughter would be an "only" that we needed to have some sort of way to be out of the house on a regular basis. Yes, we were choosing homeschooling but we felt it was also important to not to become hermits either! And so, this last winter I started looking into what exactly we were going to be doing, and I kept coming back around to Classical Conversations. One thing led to another and here we are - ready to start in a few short weeks!

I'm excited to see what God has in store for us!

~Today Looks Promising~

What day isn't good when it's started with a puff pancake? Doubled, of course, so I had something to eat for breakfast as well.

I forgot to put the blueberries on top while it was baking, so we served them on the side. Doubling the recipe made for just a bit more than my daughter and I could eat for breakfast. Having leftovers is better than me prowling about after breakfast looking for something to eat since my daughter ate up everything . ;-)

~A week of Mondays~

Do you know the tale of the man who wished for every day to be Sunday, and he was granted his wish? His wife wasn't happy with him because she had to fix a big roast dinner every day. Eventually he got his wish changed around and learned to be happy with each day as it came.

Mondays are pretty choppy around here. Sundays do take some "recuperating" as it were, for the whole family, but they are hardest on our daughter. We have a 35 min. ride each way, which means over 2 hours in the car each Sunday; the expectation to sit still and behave through Sunday school, junior church, and evening service; and meal times all changed up. If I were four years old I'd have trouble on Mondays too!

But this week it seems as if we're getting a week of Mondays. What is up with that? Last night there was an unusual amount of drinking-pottying-sing me a songing-bed bouncing-even more drinking-in-and-outing than normal. That led to a child who went to sleep past 10 pm in spite of my best efforts to get her in bed on time. She seemingly has not gotten my sleeping genes and to prove it, she bounced out of her room before eight this morning! So yeah, this day has seemed like a Monday. As did yesterday, and of course Monday was Monday!

Here's hoping tomorrow is a Thursday-that-feels-like-Thursday!

What's the hardest day around your house?

~Cherries!~

On the Fourth of July, we went cherry picking. Underneath the blue, blue skies, with such lovely warm weather, we picked and picked and picked. We just couldn't seem to stop. In the end, we had 34 pounds of cherries.

In case you wondered what 34 pounds of cherries looks like, here you go:

 

If you want to know what your arm will feel like after pitting 30 or so pounds of cherries, well, I'll leave that up to you to see if you want that experience. :-)

What did I do with all those cherries? Well, we ate a lot! In fact, I washed a large container in water with a bit of vinegar, and they lasted a long time in our refrigerator! I gave some to a friend as a "thank you" for letting me use her food dehydrator. And then I spend an inordinate amount of time at the kitchen sink, pitting them! In the end, I had a sore shoulder and plenty of cherry goodness in the freezer and in jars!

I put this info on my 2013 page (see tabs above), but here's what I did:
Frozen - 4 quarts
Frozen in simple syrup - 4 pint jars
Honey Cherry Jam - 9 8-oz. jars
Black Forest Preserves - 6 8-oz. jars, 1 12-oz. jar
Dried - 14 oz.

I've yet to try the cherries which were frozen in simple syrup, but I'm looking forward to testing them out! Also, my husband is anxious to eat the dried cherries but so far they're under lock and key. ;-) Do you do that? I put so much work into everything I want to look at it for quite a long while before it is consumed. LOL Also, a note on the Black Forest preserves: chocolate in cherry jam? Oh my! It is amazing!

~Finally (!!!) Finished~

This spring I came up with the idea to refinish our sad looking park bench which we have on our front porch.

The finish was peeling off the wood, and the metal was rusted. After a search online for the best way to paint the bench, I was off to Home Depot.

And...two months later (!) this is the finished product:

Oh my goodness! I don't even want to go in to all the details, but let's just say that since this was my first spray paint/refinish project that there were a lot of things learned along the way! And now that it's done, I can sigh a big sigh of relief!

~Clothespin Dolls~

About two years ago, I pulled down a clothespin bag that was hanging in the basement, and discovered a bag full of antique clothespins. I listed them on my Etsy shop and made quite a bit of money off something that I had just discovered in my home (too bad there isn't anything else hanging about my attic or basement!).

I saved some of the clothespins, thinking they would make a fun craft sometime.

Yesterday I pulled them out and we got some paint at Hobby Lobby so we could paint them. My daughter actually did most of the painting, though I did help her with some of the painting and I was standing right over her to help direct the paintbrush. And of course, I drew the faces on.

I'm thinking these would be fun in her church bag though she couldn't "talk" for them so I don't know if that would work or not!

I have about 10 more pegs and I'm itching to do a few myself. But then, there would be the question of what to do with them afterwards. I'm not a great fan of tshotshkes so they would probably just end up as toys too!

~Random Thoughts~

:::Yesterday and today have been rainy days. We're hoping for nice weather on the 4th, as we have a family outing planned. I guess we can always improvise but when you have plans you want to execute them!

:::Yesterday I got the chance to meet up with a long-time blogging friend. We talked for about an hour. Wow! What fun. :) (She no longer blogs, otherwise I'd point you toward her blog.)

:::More sour cherries! I got 8.5 pounds and it took me 1.5 hours to pit them. Yield: two more pies-to-be-made and 3 jars of jam. Yum!

:::And more pickled asparagus! I bought more asparagus, and then I opened a jar of my pickled asparagus to see how I liked it. Oh my! So, so good! I love it! I sprung for the 24-oz. jars this time around. They really are so much more efficient for canning asparagus! Much more of the stalk fits into the jar! I got 3 24-oz. jars. Yum.

:::As soon as the weather clears we want to go sweet cherry picking. Can't wait for that. And oddly, blueberry season is starting early this year (this week!), so there are blueberries to consider. Blueberries are an absolute must for me so I'll definitely fit them in.

~Fruit~

Yesterday was a very "fruitful" day! First, my daughter and I went strawberry picking, which yielded 8 pounds of strawberries for us. We went strawberry picking about a week and a half ago, and I froze them plain, as well as 4 pints in simple syrup. We were going through them pretty fast (for smoothies), so I thought we should take advantage of them before the end of strawberry season.

Then in the afternoon a friend put out the word that her cherry tree had a broken branch, did anyone want to come pick sour cherries? So we headed out to pick cherries! We got almost 5 pounds, and this is the result:

Well, at least the crack in the board is in focus (!).
It's a stormy afternoon, hard for taking pictures!

It took a lot of work to pit all those cherries (even with a pitter), but the jam is so amazingly good! I'm thinking about going back early next week as I was invited to, and getting enough for another pie and a few more jars of jam.

I still have strawberries in my fridge to put up. I'm just going to freeze them, so that isn't too much work! I just need to do it!

~Flowers~

I snapped a few pictures of my flowers in the front beds. The Asiatic lilies are in bloom!


View from my porch.

 

 

I really enjoy having mostly perennials in the front flower bed. It looks a lot different from when we first moved in (eight years this July!).



~Canning Notes: Pickled Asparagus~

Last year while I was looking for recipes for pickles, it came to me that "pickles" does not universally mean pickled cucumbers. One can pickle most anything one desires, including pig's feet (though I certainly do not desire to pickle pig's feet! and I actually did not come across such a recipe).

Last week I purchased asparagus from a local farm and set about pickling it, using Marissa's recipe found here (I left out the cayenne).

I really wish I had 24-oz. jars, but I didn't want to run to the store and purchase jars for something I don't know if I'll want to make again. So this year I made do, and if it turns out that we love pickled asparagus, I might buy some jars so that I can get longer pickled asparagus.

The season's next locally-offered produce will be cherries! I'm looking forward to putting up some cherry preserves.

~Swagbucks~

So, I looked, and the last time I officially plugged my Swagbucks referral link was December, 2011. So I don't feel bad doing a little plug for my referral link. ;-)

First of all, I have to say, I love Swagbucks. If I didn't get any referral links, I would still love it! A free way to earn a bit of extra money? Sign me up! (Oh wait, I already did sign up...I crack me up sometimes. LOL)

I have always used the Swagbucks I earn to buy $5 Amazon gift cards. Total earned to date? $485. Nearly $500 that I have had to spend as I want! That's a lot of extra money, if you ask me! I saved up my gift cards for about a year and purchased a KitchenAid mixer. Late last spring, I bought a sand and water table for my daughter, so she'd have something to play with in the back yard. I had been saving for an iPod Touch, but I ended up using them that way and I'm glad I did. She had a lot of fun playing with the table, and has continued to play with it this summer, so it was a good buy, even if it delayed my iPod Touch purchase! (Oh, the sacrifices parents make... ;-) )

Now I'm saving up for either an iPod Touch or a Kindle Fire HD. I'm kind of waffling back and forth on which I want! (Any input?) I am pretty close to my goal!

If you don't have a Swagbucks account, why not give it a try? I betcha you'll get hooked just like me! For the first 1,000 Swagbucks you earn, I will earn 1,000 as well. And you can get people to sign up under you immediately, so you can start earning through referral links right away also.