Last Minute Sewing

Last night we got a call from a friend of my daughter. She had found an old doll house at the thrift store that was the perfect gift for her 5 year old niece. It needed curtains.

She is a scrapbooker, so she was going to re-paper the walls and stopped by to drop off the one set of old dirty curtains that were in it. 

We went through the fabric stash and the girls found some that would match the paper. 

With a bit of help from my daughter, 

we got them done in a couple of hours, start to finish. 

As a side note, I did fix the wonky seams, I just didn't get a picture. We ran them over and the doll house was cleaned, wall papered and had a few pieces of furniture and new drapes. It is all ready for a little girl to dream.  

Merry Christmas!

Santa Soft Book

My daughter and I found this at the bottom of a bag of fabric. I remember buying it about 17 years ago, when she was 3, and then promptly losing it. I think I need an intervention on fabric hoarding...LOL!

I ironed it for about an hour and cut it out.

I found some batting scraps that were the perfect size and pinned it up.

I just did a quick stitch around the pictures and then the outside edge of  the pages. DD is so in love with the Rag Quilt texture, she wanted me to leave the page edges open.

Sew it together and square up the pages and...

Ta Da! 

It's cute under the tree and she says it is going in her cedar chest after Christmas.

She is very good at reminding me that it is the littlest things that can mean the most.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Christmas Tea Towels

Here is another "use up some stash" project. 

Cut fabric to the size you want the towels plus seam allowance.

Sew 1 1/2" or 2 1/2" strips together to a width a bit more than the towels.

Iron everything and check to see if you need to add or remove a strip.

Hem towels. I used red thread in keeping with the holiday theme.

Cut strips into 3" sections. Fold raw edges to middle and press.

Take a strip, fold ends in and press to width of towel. I put it just inside the hemmed edge. Turn strip over and pin in a few places to hold.

Sew strip down close to the edge.

I will be giving baskets to my neighbors with bread, cookies and a set of these towels.

These took me longer to press than to sew. It took two days to finish them because the family wanted to eat once in a while and the ironing board was set up in the middle of the kitchen.

Enjoy!

Olive Oil Mayonnaise

I  love olive oil mayo! I ran out in the middle of a yucky rainy day and decided to make my own, instead of going out in the damp. I looked through a few different cookbooks and took the best of each to come up with this recipe.

1 whole egg, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. sugar, dash of Old Bay Seasoning, 

2 TBSP vinegar or lemon juice, 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 1/2 cup olive oil in one measuring cup.

In blender add egg, salt, sugar, seasoning, vinegar and 2 TBSP of the oil. 

Pulse 5 or 6 times to blend smooth.

On the "blend" speed, SLOWLY DRIZZLE oil until thick and creamy.

You may have to stop and scrape, once, when it gets thick, 

so it will blend the rest of the oil.

Spoon into a jar and refrigerate immediately. It makes a little more than a cup. I don't know how long it will last, because we go through it in a week. 

I have made this every Saturday afternoon, lately. 

Sew Many Projects

Busy hands...

Dish cloths 

(had to do something with all the scraps from the rag quilt)

 Fall quilt top for DD

(She chose the fabric and helped cut)

 Rag bag for the garage

(DH loved this and worked on organizing the garage for a whole day)

 Rag quilt finally finished!

(I am still finding strings in the washer)

I have a few Christmas projects on the sewing table and will post about them when I can get DD to get the pics off my phone. The phone and my dinosaur laptop are nowhere near compatible...LOL! 

Have a great week!

Stashbuster Potholder

Just a quick little job to use up some leftover terrycloth from the rag quilt project, that I am procrastinating on finishing. This was my inspiration.

My DH is home for a week's worth of vacation, so I doubt much will get done around here...LOL!

Have a great week!

Breaking Needles

This is what I have broken a rotary blade and 4 needles on...

I should have it finished and ready to show early next week.

Green Tomato Strawberry Jam

This is a quick recipe and it really is good. I have the bread machine running and the family is excited to have this jam on toast for breakfast.


5 cups green tomatoes, cored and diced in blender
4 cups sugar
1 lg. package Strawberry Jello


Boil tomatoes and sugar in large sauce pan for 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Jello for 3 minutes. Put in hot jars or freezer containers and refrigerate or freeze. 
Note: I used all the green tomatoes I picked that were too small to fry and a bunch of green cherry tomatoes. This was a great way to use the last of the harvest instead of wasting them.

Enjoy!

Banana Yummies

I don't know what else to call these...lol...I just had to use the bananas, so I made this up as I went along. The family isn't thrilled with muffins and they are sick of bread. I am out of baking powder, so cake is out. After these came out of the oven, DD ate them warm with butter and DH ate his as a platform for ice cream. I just ate two squares by themselves and was very happy...lol! Pictures then recipe...

1/4 cup milk

3 eggs, beaten

3 bananas, mashed

2 TBSP syrup 

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Line jelly roll pan with parchment paper and grease lightly or just well grease the pan. 

Mix wet ingredients together in medium bowl.

Sift dry ingredients together in large bowl. Add nuts and stir until coated.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well, like a batter.

Spread in pan and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, to taste.

Bake for 15 minutes, let cool 1 minute, cut in pan with pizza cutter.

Eat and Enjoy!

Friday Night Fun

We went to the music store for another 5 guitar rack and I found out I like the bass guitar.

After getting the rack, 4 straps, a  new guitar for DH, I was surprised to find him putting the bass and an amp on the counter! I can't wait to learn how to play! It looks good on my sofa. 

I will post some pics and maybe a video as soon as I won't embarrass myself...LOL! I think I will sew a dust cover for it.

Have A Great Weekend!

Fabulous Prizes, Painting, Stash Buster and the Garden

Here are the pics of the prizes that were here when I came home!
This came from Janet at I Heart My Glue Gun, it is hanging above our vanity as a great reminder for each day.

This bag was from Alaundra at create., I took it to the Styx concert and it held our blanket, water, wallets, purse stuff, cellphones and concert crap without straining it's seams!

These magnets and pins are from Jamie at Day & Age Design. They have helped me start organizing the fridge door!

I painted the chairs, but we are still deciding which of the two colors to paint the table. In the meantime, I found a tablecloth and a couple matching bucket candles at the dollar store. 

I cut some fish and bubbles out of this flannel and then let DD play with sewing them on a pillow front. She had fun and it got her a little more familiar with the machine. She prefers hand sewing. I finished it up and she is using it as a book rest as I type...LOL!

This groundhog, affectionately named "Paulie", is trying to put on his winter weight in the garden. 

Coming out of his grocery store...

Bok choy before...

Bok choy after...

Happily I had cut about half the bok choy the day before, so we did get to enjoy some of it...LOL!

How was everyone else's week?