I have this problem where I bookmark sites and then can’t remember why. Even putting my links into categories wasn’t helping. So I have created a new list of “Projects I want to Make.” It has the direct link to the pattern/tutorial that I plan on following. Maybe this will help me…
We loved our trip to Oklahoma!
3 Jun
The kids and I drove to Oklahoma to see Ben. We had a blast going to the zoo and Museum of natural history. Plus we stayed at Aunt Jeanne’s house and nate and Brandielle cooked us tastey treats!!
Faith is?
17 May
This 7 year-old says faith is “when my mom cooks food and says it will taste good.”
Wardrobe Refashion
1 May
Yesterday morning, this boring chok-er-ific turtleneck became a cute circle neck shirt
thanks to this tutorial on Craftstylish.
I didn’t mark anything and just cut and sewed with abandon. It turned out okay if you don’t look too close.
I plan on doing more of these and turning all my ugly t-shirts into cute girly shirts.
I did one extra step after the tutorial, which was to fold the new neck yoke down to the wrong side and topstitch the whole thing so that it looks like bias binding for the collar.
At first, I wished I had cut the front down more that the back so that I could remember which was the front of the shirt. Then I realized that I was free to choose the side with the least number of sewing mistakes because they were the same. So it worked out well. 🙂
Yes, I made the denim skirt out of jeans as well– momma jeans that I paid $1 for at the thrift store. They were a tad snug, but the process of making the skirt fixed that. This tutorial from NotMartha is pretty close to what I did.
The only difference is that because I made it shorter, I could use the bottom half of the jeans to fill in the back, instead of using other fabric.
Also, I added the ruffle to the bottom and clipped all my seams like you would for one of those rag quilts–so the edges would fray more quickly.
It was a bit tricky to add the ruffle and make the denim raw edge still be exposed. Not that tricky, but you have to realize that it is what you want, or you won’t get it.
A note on making jean skirts: the skirt will always want to follow the same basic shape that the jeans did. Aka: momma jeans made into a skirt will taper in. If you want more of a straight skirt or an A-line, you have to use stovepipe or straight-leg jeans.
K-K-K-Katie
27 Apr
Happy Burfday, Katie, who always tells our most horrible stories on our birthdays. It’s your turn *evil smiley*
There are 4 girls in our family. Three of us were born all in a row at the beginning. Then came all the boys, with Katie sandwiched in the middle.
First of all, she was a very angry baby. She is crying in every family picture we took during her first 5 years.
Second of all, Dad had some problem with letting her hair grow. When she was a year old, mom came home from the grocery store and Dad had buzzed (shaved) off all of Katie’s hair. He insisted that it was to keep her “cool and comfortable” during the summer.
Then, when she was 9 or 10, Dad gave her a “pixie” hair cut. Strangers kept mistaking her for a boy. Which made me want to beat them all up. I appliqued a huge ladybug on a purple t-shirt for her. I was so proud of it, and she definitely looked like a girl. But people would still say out loud that she looked like a boy. I hated them all for being so mean and dumb.
Here we are, with Katie in the very front. As you can see, Dad gave Mary the same murderous haircut.
All us older girls were very angry about the fact that Katie never had to do any work be cause she was “too little”. What a spoiled kid. It was really easy to frustrate her and make her cry. We made her cry all the time and then made fun of her for crying. Brutal.
Then we all grew up and moved away to college and Katie became Mom’s slave, helping take care of all those boys (7 of them). If she had any spoiled tendancies, they were obliterated for good.
She had a friend named Marissa and they did crazy wild things together that I don’t know anything about.
It was Katie who snuck into the boys’ room and painted their toe and fingernails one April 1st.
Then she hid all the nail polish remover so they had to go to school that way.
Katie is bad luck as a passenger in a car. No less than 4 and maybe 6 of our family car accidents had Katie as the passenger. Coincidence?? I. think. not.
In college she really went wild.
She snuck a whole pizza into the movies under her coat!
She watched Jane Fonda work-out videos,
And she played “Chubby Bunny” alot.
And she dated a guy whose belt buckle was bigger than his head. Good thing she dumped him. phew!
Happy Birthday, little sister. I hope I grow up to be as talented and beautiful and sweet as you.
Sassy-Flirty Apron Swap–Dinner Refashion
9 Apr
I actually recieved this apron over a month ago…before Valentine’s Day. However, there was no one to take a picture of me in it, since my DH was gone. He’s home now 🙂 and I got him to take a picture of me. I L-O-V-E this apron. It turned out that my cousin was my partner and made it for me. I need this pattern. It looks better on me than any of the other aprons that I own. (And I have a plethora.) This apron is made for my shape.
I cannot impress upon you enough how much I love this apron and feel so pretty in it. The ties are wide enough to make a fat bow. It is just great. She also included some pink hot pads and a marvelous fridge magnet that looks like a chocolate covered strawberry. So tasty looking. There was also a little apron for my dish soap bottle and several other goodies. I am too lazy to take a picture of right now.
Love the Apron
***Dinner Refashion***
I am very much into Wardrobe Refashion, and am planning a post about my efforts in that area soon. Today, however, I would like to talk about Dinner. Two days ago, I made a Roasted Lemon Greek Chicken. I haven’t made this recipe in awhile, and we always loved it before when I made it. Basically, you chop up potatoes, red onion, green pepper, and mushrooms and toss them in lemon juice, garlic, oregano, and olive oil. Then I put them in a roasting pan, put a 3 lb. Turkey breast on top and baked it for 2 hours. Sounds yummy, huh?
Well, when it was done, we were just not in the mood for it. So no one ate much of it. Also, I had made extra because I was expecting company. (though no company came). So we had all these left overs that no one wanted to eat and it was perfectly good food!
I sliced as much of the breast as I could for sandwiches. Then I pulled the rest of the meat off the carcass in bits and set it and the veggies aside in the fridge. Today I had a stroke of genius.
I got out my big stew pot and made a roux of 4 Tbs butter and 4 Tbs flour. I added 2 Tbs curry powder and 1/2 tsp of cumin and cooked that for about 2 minutes.
It smelled heavenly.
Then I added all the turkey bits and veggies and enough water to make it all soupy. I had to add a bunch of salt–like 1 1/2 Tbs. Then I let it simmer for an hour until the curry flavor got into the veggies.
And, Wa-La
Tasty curry chicken soup that everyone gobbled up and called yummy.
VICTORY!
Tea Party Aprons
9 Apr
I entered another of my aunt’s Sassy Apron Swaps. Diva #1 has been pretty excited whenever I get an apron and goodies in the mail and she kept asking me if she could get goodies in the mail like that. So, I asked my Auntie if I could enter Diva #1 instead of myself in her Tea Party Sassy Apron Swap. Well apparently, several other little girls wanted to play too, because she created a Junior category for us all.
This time, we were paired up with a partner and they knew who we were. (usually it’s a secret.) It was really fun. Diva’s tea party friend sent her this fabulous cup cake apron and lots of other treats like cup cake lipgloss and cup cake socks. (Oh how thankful I am for those socks. Diva #1 hates socks–specifically the seam in the toe bugs her. It is a fight every morning before school. But she will wear the cupcake socks VOLUNTARILY!!!) Diva’s partner’s mom is one amazing woman!
This is the apron we made for Diva’s partner. Tutorial comming soon! We also sent her a heart-shaped tea cup that matched it and a few other goodies.
This was definitely fun!
Commissioned
31 Mar
The Man of the House is now a commissioned officer! Second Lieutenant.
The kids are now convinced that Holiday Inn is the best place to stay for any trip. Blueberry Pie wants to own one when he grows up .
We got to tour the capitol building in Jefferson City, and when we went up into the dome with the little kids, I had such an attack of fear of heights that I could not move. The rotunda looks down over 4 stories and is protected by a hundred-year-old wooden railing.
Peach Pie went running around. All I could do was sit on the bench against the wall, and inch my way toward her, dizziness and oppressive weight pressing down on me. I finally got near enough that I could reach out with my foot to snag her and get her back.
Not a Diet Food
4 Mar
Bacon Parmesan Pull-aparts (Monkey Bread)
you need bacon, parmesan cheese, onion, butter, whomp biscuits
Here we go.
3- 10 oz cans refridgerated biscuits (cut in quarters & rolled into balls)
OR you can make your own biscuits:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
blend together. Cut in
1/2 cup butter or lard until grainy
make a well in the middle and
crack in 1 egg and
1/2 cup milk
Stir with a fork just until the dough comes together. Put on a floured surface and kneed 5 times.
Separate into balls
Now back to the pull-aparts
*Cook 12 slices bacon until crisp and crumble up (or get a package of real bacon bits if you are lazy)
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
* chop 1 small onion
mix those 3 together
melt 1 stick of butter
Dip the biscuit balls in the butter.
Get out a bunt pan . Grease it. Layer in biscuits, then bacon, then biscuits until it’s all gone.
Pour any remaining butter over the whole thing.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes–careful not to burn it.
Let it sit 5-10 minutes when done then dump it out and dig in
Marvelous Pigs in Satin 