Pear Sauce

I got a bunch of pears from the food bank awhile ago. I always get the perishable left overs that no one wants and these were almost at the toss-them-out stage. So what to do with them when no one wants to eat them? Make pear sauce!

Pear sauce is basically applesauce made with pears instead. You could even make pear butter with this. You can find my applesauce/apple butter recipe HERE. And while your at it can it and save it for those frozen winter months when you're dreaming of fresh foods. MMMmmmm....

Knitted Socks

I've been wanting to learn to knit (or crochet) socks for years now. I've never had the courage, time, patience, or skill to try until I got me one of these…

This is a knitting board, specifically made for knitting socks. I got mine at Jo-Ann's using my coupon.

I decided to test my new toy using some not-so-loved sock yarn in my stash and by picking the smallest foot in the house (aka Jameson) to make them for.

The loom I got is adjustable and using a simple formula I was able to figure out how many pegs to use and where to adjust the movable side to.

The whole thing was made even easier by a DVD that came with loom AND on their website they have even more videos to help you get started and making all kinds of things (not just socks). You can purchase all their available knitting boards straight from the website too. I'm thinking about getting one to knit dishcloths on.

The end product turned out better then I could have hoped, even with the funny looking yarn. LOL But Jameson doesn't care, he just thinks they are cool because mommy made them for him!

Sewing Sunday

I meant to write this yesterday for Sewing Saturday but the day just got away from me. At least today starts with an S, right? LOL :)

I've been pretty busy in my sewing room lately. I've been completing several small projects so while it looks like I've gotten a lot of things done here (and I have!), each item didn't take that much time to make. I really love doing small projects, specially after the large wholesale orders I've just completed the week before.

I completed the wetbag wholesale order for Karin at Dominopads.com at the beginning of the week. I also made 1 bag in each color for my shop. So I now have 4 new small wetbags in my shop ready to ship!

I've been really wanting to work through my sewing to-do list and I'm finally getting the chance to do that. This week I choose to make headbands and sewing rolls. I made 5 narrow headbands, 5 wide headbands and 5 sewing rolls. I really like the headbands but I didn't make one for me, that'll have to go back on my to-do list. :) I made myself a sewing roll a long, long time ago and finally got around to making some for my shop. Here are a few pictures but you can find all the headbands in this section of my shop and all the sewing rolls in this section of my shop.

Lastly, Jameson's 2nd birthday is right around the corner! I've really tried to keep our budget as low as possible. I try to buy 1 large gift, this year I got him a 30 piece organic building block set hand made by an artisan on Etsy. It used walnut and oak woods and is beautiful! It was expensive BUT it will last for years and years and possibly through some grandkids too. (Mommy might play with them too.)  :) Then, I try to make a gift or 2. I purchased some on-the-go play mats to sew up for a craft show, which I haven't had time to do, so I pulled one out to sew up for Jameson instead. It turned out super cute! I basted it using this method (minus the boards, I just rolled it tightly) and I have NO wrinkles on the back (my perpetual problem) and I quilted it using basic straight line quilting following the streets and around all the buildings. This is another gift that will get lots and lots of use I'm sure!

I've already got my to-do sewing list figured out for next week. I hope I get just as much done as I did this week! Have a good day All!!

Carrots

Have you ever seen such huge carrots before? I haven't! I'm not sure what variety they are.

I received these as 'unwanted left overs' from the local food bank recently. I took a morning and cleaned them up, sliced them, and canned them. Now we'll have fresh home canned carrots in the middle of winter!

You can find my recipe and instructions on canning carrots HERE in my Canning 101 Series. Enjoy!

T-Shirt Yarn

I've recently gotten into recycling or up-cycling things. I repurposed a t-shirt last week and this week I made some t-shirt yarn from some old t-shirts. The shirts were getting a little worn out and some how almost all my shirts get holes where the button of my jeans hit. I hated tossing these out so I decided to make them into something new!

You can find a tutorial on how to make t-shirt yarn, HERE.

Now I'm ready to make a new kitchen hot pad or crocheted rag rug. :)

Up-Cycled T-Shirt

I love T-shirts but I don't really care for how baggy they are on me. I decided recently to give up-cycling a try with one of my old shirts to see if I could make something new from something old.


I began by cutting off the hems around the sleeves and bottom edge. Then I cut off the collar and cut it down into a v-neck and added a slit down even farther. This gave it a nice look that I really love. I then measured in 2" on each side at about the waist and 1" at the bottom, drew a line and sewed it up. After words I serged all the edges for a nice clean look. And viola… a new shirt!

Wordless Wednesday: I Heart Muffins

Tastey Tuesday: Apple Butter

I recently got a nice big batch of apples and decided that it was time to make some yummy apple butter!

This is one of the easiest things to make but it takes quit a while. The end results are so worth it though. :)

You can find my recipe and instructions on how to can the apple butter HERE.

Enjoy!

Sweet Treat Halloween Candy Bags

I've finished all the new candy bags for this Halloween! These are the perfect size bags for holding all that yummy candy. And the best part is that they are reusable year after year!

I've also got several other Halloween items in my shop. Hop on over there and check them out!

Riddle Me This...

How does an almost 9 year old put a giant hole in his bed sheets while he sleeps?

Me: (after finding them in the laundry) Ian, what happened to your sheets?
Ian: Iuhuh (translation: I don't know)
Me: Did you do this on purpose?
Ian: NO! I was sleeping so how should I know?
Me: Uh, huh... well... don't do it again.
Ian: (commence eye rolling and annoyed grunts indicating that I just don't 'get it'.)

So, your guess is as good as mine! Buying new ones isn't in the budget at the moment so I decided a little mending would be the way to go. New sheets might be on Ian's christmas or birthday list. :)

These sheets are the jersey knit kind so they are pretty much like a t-shirt material. Well, I searched all over for a color to match but I couldn't find one. LOL I measured the hole to determine how big of a square of t-shirt I'd need, then cut apart the t-shirt and rotary cut the size square I needed. I then pinned it onto the sheet and used a decorative (or zig-zag) stitch around the whole edge. Flip the whole sheet over and cut away the old holey portion. Viola... a mended sheet for pretty much nothing.

My New Sewing Basket and Other Stuff

A couple weeks ago I was walking around wally-world. They've been messing with their fabric department, changing it, removing it, bringing it back... I wish they'd make up their mind already! Anyways, I found the cutest sewing basket for just $20mso I had to get it! I love it and have it filled up already. It's just what I've needed for my hand work and I keep it on my bed side table.

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I give up trying to exercise while I have children at home. I can't safely get on my treadmil with a toddler near by and trying to exercise at nap time is not working for me because that's my time to focus on sewing. I think I'm causing myself more stress trying to figure out how to fit it in so I'm just not going to worry about it right now. In a year or 2 Jameson will probably go to preschool and then he'll be in kindergarten. I'll just think about it then!

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My husband has been out of town this week at a class. He's getting certified for a new program he'll be using at work. While, I love the fact that I don't have to share the bed or cook as much, I'm ready for him to come home!

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Everything is going well otherwise. I'm keeping very busy with my sewing business. I've had a couple wholesale orders, a couple other orders, and some new ideas for my shops. I think my only problem now is time management and not being able to stay totally focused. Any suggestions for that?