Some Knitting...

I've been doing a little knitting lately. Especially while carpooling with my husband, we always take his car and since he sometimes needs his car for work - he drops me off. I'm working on a couple of baby items for my Niece Katie, and some of my other friends/family that are expecting.

Recently, I was in the mood for a quick finish project. So I started a dishcloth. It was quick and easy and I had fun knitting it. So I pulled out some more cotton from my yarn stash and went to town on another, with an even more basic pattern. I started poking around on ravelry for other dishcloth patterns and found this one with a coffee cup on it and I had to have it! I thought it would be better done with a solid colored yarn, but I didn't have anything solid in cotton, so I went with what I had. And I think it turned out pretty good. See pictures of my other projects on Ravelry.

OC (Organizing Challenge) - The Junk Drawer

Before:

After
I need a few more baskets or something to contain the pens and stuff, but I am planning to move most of them to the office/printer desk. That's next on the list of things to organize.

I tossed a lot of things in the garbage, moved a few items to new homes like the 7 packs of gum, the box of envelopes that was causing the drawer not to open all the way and my never used palm pilot.

I was so into the organizing last night that I decided to do a couple of cupboards too, we had some stuff sitting out on the counter from packing lunches all week and I wanted it put away. I wish I had taken before shots of these cabinets because they were pretty messy!

To continue to motivate myself to catch up in the Organizing Challenge, I took before pictures of a lot of the spaces that I'll be working on. Including: under the sink, the pantry, the dreaded tupperware mess (it's in the pantry), the laundry closet and my disastrous dresser (it's so bad I didn't even take a picture of the drawers, just the top).

Organizing Challenge!

I know that I already posted about my ridiculously messy/unorganized craft room, I even took pictures, but I'm too ashamed to post them. I'll work up to it, I promise!

But I just found out that A bowl full of lemons is hosting an organizing challenge. I'm way late to the game, but I'm going to try to catch up! My husband doesn't know it yet, but he's going to help. Although he probably won't be as much help as I need, lol. This Organizing Challenge is a 21 day challenge (not counting Sundays) that started on Jan 1, so I've got a long way to go!

Here's what I've missed so far....
Day 1 (Jan 1) - Junk Drawer - mine is awful! Can't wait to knock this one out, look for a post tomorrow!
Day 2 (Jan 3) - Computer Desk - we don't really have a computer desk, both my husband and I have laptops that we primarily use while sitting on the couch. We do have a small desk for our (non-wireless) printer, so I'll be working on that.
Day 3 (Jan 4) - Tupperware Cabinet - umm, I totally need help with this one - any suggestions on how to organize my Tupperware?
Day 4 (Jan 5) - Linen Closet - I don't have a linen closet, but I have lots of closets and they all need to be organized!
Day 5 (Jan 6) - Under the Kitchen Sink - fortunately for me, under my kitchen sink is pretty clean and organized. We keep our garbage and recycling under there and a few cleaning products. It does need a good cleaning (I spill coffee grounds A LOT when emptying them into the trash can)
Day 6 (Jan 7) - Dresser Drawers - oh Lordy, this is gonna be a big one! My dresser, not just the drawers but the top too is a disaster! In fact most of my clothes are on top of the dresser and NOT in the drawers...oops!
Day 7 (Jan 8) - The Pantry - this one might kill me. I LOATHE my pantry. I can not for the life of me figure out how to organize it. We only lived in our house 6 months and I have re-organized the pantry twice. But even I discovered this organizing challenge, I was planning to tackle the pantry yet again.
Day 8 (Jan 10) - The Coat Closet - my coat closet contains a lot of thing and most of them are NOT coats. Can't wait to work on this one!
Day 9 (Jan 11) - Toy Organization - since I don't have any kids, we just have dog toys are our house. Which are easily contained. Sierra only has a few toys that she likes and a couple of bones. A bowl full of Lemons suggests organizing your own hobby area (shutter) in place of toy organization - this will take me more than one day I'm afraid!
Day 10 (Jan 12) - Laundry Room (closet) - mine is more of a laundry closet and doesn't get a whole lot of clutter (Thank goodness!) but it could use a little work. My washer/dryer are stackables, and the only storage space is on top of the dryer. I have to stand on my tip toes to reach the soap! We really need to add a lower shelf or two in there.
Day 11 (Jan 13) - The Freezer - my freezer stock get rotated fairly quickly due to space, and I re-organize almost every time I go to the grocery store, so I don't have much to do here, but it could use a little help.
Day 12 (Jan 14) - The spice cabinet - this is a disaster zone at my house. Cooking and baking often result in swearing and crying because I can't find the spice or baking supply I'm looking for. This was also already on my list projects to tackle this weekend.

Whew! I hope I can catch up!

I made...er...bread!

I love reading food blogs in addition to the craft blogs that I also love. I find a lot of recipes that way. Its great, someone else tests and posts them and then I read about it and think YUM! That's what I thought when I read this post at Branny Boils Over. I've made a couple of other things Branny has posted, like this Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie - which was excellent! So when I saw her post about Oatmeal Whole Wheat Bread, I wanted to try it. I make a mean Banana Bread, why can't I make real bread - right?? right?? um, wrong!

Here's my bread...I know, it looks like a turd. I sent this picture to my husband, he didn't have anything to say about my bread. When I asked him about it later, he said, "I can't say what it looks like." To which I replied, "I know it looks like a turd."

But, the good news is that it tastes good. The biggest problem that I had with the bread was that it didn't rise. at all, not even a little bit. I finally took it out of the loaf pans (which were only about 1/2 full) and dropped it on this cookie sheet. I had 2 "loaves" of VERY VERY dry bread dough.

I realized after the fact that I made a couple of mistakes with this bread - 1) I used the regular yeast instead of quickrising yeast. and 2) I shorted myself on the butter. I read the recipe directly off my computer and so I must have read part of one line and part of another and thought I only needed 2 TBS of butter...I needed 1/4 cup. oops.

I have another batch rising at home (I ran out of time last night) and it did actually rise. I'm not sure it rose quite as much as it's supposed to. Guess I'll find out. I used the correct yeast this time, but again I shorted myself on the butter. I almost left it out entirely. I also didn't put quite as much flour in as the recipe called for. I added the flour 1/2 to 1 cup at a time and got in about 4 cups of the whole wheat flour and about 1/4 cup of the regular flour. I stopped adding flour when my dough was smooth and no longer sticky. I wanted to make sure that I didn't end up with dry dough again. So I shall report back after I bake tonight and let you know my final grade on this recipe.

Some Goals for 2011...

You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging much lately. Life is crazy busy, which is not that unusual. But the constant state of disarray in my craft room is killing my creativity. I managed to scrape out a few Christmas presents, but it was tough.

Therefore my #1 goal for 2011 is to get my craft room in order! So I'm laying it all out here...maybe you guys can keep me in line :-)
1) Wash, iron and fold/hang all fabric
2) add shelving, starting with the closet (I think)
3) Organize thread, bobbins, ribbons, other embellishments
4) get floor picked up enough to vacuum
5) Organize sewing table
6) Remove all non-craft related items from craftroom
7) find a way to store the GIANT roll of butcher paper that's not behind the door
8) paint chairs and re-cover seats

Once the craft room is cleaned and organized (which will probably take me all year), I've got a list of projects that I'd like to work on. I've organized these into 3 categories - Make Now, Make Later and Make for Christmas 2011. So I'm going to go ahead and list these here too.

Make Now:

• Dog collar
• Patchy rug for back door
• Pointer finger pin cushion
• Laptop sleeve
• Gift sacks
• Grocery sacks
• Ruffled key wristlets
• Sewn Wrist warmers

Make Later:

• Eye pillows
• Slippers
• Gathered clutches
• Patchwork makeup bags
• Best friend gift sets
• Bed organizer
• Quilt-y scarves
• Wine glass charms
• Covered clothes pins
• Fingertip hot pads

Make for Christmas:

• Tree Skirt
• Table Runner
• Table Cloth
• Gift sacks

Keep your pets Safe!

Check it out! Get your free Pet Safety Pack from the ASPCA. Safety Pack contains a window decal to alert rescue personnel that your pets are inside and an ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center magnet.

Thanks to frugalgals.com for the info!

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Gathered Clutch

One of the projects that I completed was this cute gathered clutch from Noodlehead. I just can't get over the cuteness of these gathered clutches - I feel that I need one for everyday of the week, or every outfit, or every everything!



It's got two pockets on the inside for cards and another divider pocket, stick your cash behind it, or your lipstick :-)


The instructions that Noodlehead gave we clear and easy to follow. This zipper went in quite slick following her instructions. I can't wait to make more!

Winnings!

I recently won two give-a-ways, here's what I won...

From Katie's Nesting Spot I won a BusyBodyBook Calendar. Check out Katie's post to see what she likes about the BusyBodyBook Calendar.


I chose the summer pattern, there are four cover patterns to choose from.

I like:

• The pockets in the front and back covers for notes, mail, receipts, etc.
• The laminated covers
• Moveable bookmark to mark the week you are on
• Space for to-do lists
• Space for 5 different people or subjects, I am using one for personal stuff, one for each of my jobs (2) and one for the ministry team that I lead.
• I also like the perpetual calendar for birthdays, anniversaries, etc. and the month at a glance section.

From Fitness for the Rest of Us I won two 4 packs of SKOY Cloths. Pictures from the SKOY Cloths website. Skoy cloths are re-usable cloths, designed to replace paper towels and other cleaning, dishwashing cloths. We opened the package right away, and I really like these. We have been using some cheap (disposable) dishclothes. These are good for about a week and then we toss them. I like the SKOY cloths because they are thicker than the cheapies we've been using and I love that they can be washed in the washing machine, or you can wet them and put them in the microwave to kill the germs.

So many thanks to Katie and BusyBodyBooks and to LindseyLu and SKOY!!

Pattern Test...Diaper Bag

No, not for me. Sew4Home offers lots of great patterns, including this diaper bag. I thought this might make a good shower/baby gift, so I decided to try out the pattern. It was not terribly difficult, but I don't love the pattern. I'm not so sure it is the great gift I was hoping for. Oh well.

I do have a nice big tote bag...overnight bag...not sure what bag. I think it's quite large 15"x15"x7". Sew4Home says this is a small diaper bag! If I have to carry a diaper bag bigger than this when I have a kid, I don't think I'll be able to carry the bag and the kid!

I modified that patter slightly to fit my needs. I left off the front pocket and side gathered pocket, for 2 reasons. I didn't have enough fabric and I didn't think I needed them, although I think I would have liked the flat pocket on the front, but I couldn't leave off just the gathered pocket because of the design of the bag. I also left off the gathered pockets on the inside of the bag, again I didn't think I would need them and I didn't have enough fabric. I used 4 different fabrics to complete this bag, I wanted to use only fabrics that I had on hand, so I used a fabric with a light blue background with apples, pears, leaves and puppies on it for the outside of the bag and the front side of the strap. I used a plain black on the inside of the strap and the bottom of the bag (so the bottom wouldn't show the dirt and because I didn't have enough of the blue fabric), the facings are black with multicolored dots and finally the inside is a red nylon.

I think that it turned out nicely overall. I did break a needle sewing the final pieces together, but that was my fault, I thought that I had changed to a bigger needle, but I hadn't.

Ladder ball

My husband really wanted a ladderball set for our backyard. After pricing them, we decided that we could make our own pretty easily and less expensively. I think we spend around $15. And ours looks something like this...(picture from Target.com)

We used 3/4" PVC and from the measurements off a ladderball package at the store, I figure out the lengths we needed to cut.

Here's what we purchased:
40 ft 3/4" PVC
4 3/4" elbows
12 3/4" T-joints
8 3/4" end caps
12 cheap golfballs
2 cans of spray paint (red & blue)
We had on hand: thin nylon rope, saw

Here's what we cut:
8 35" pieces (for the bottom)
12 18" pieces (to make the sides)
6 24" pieces for the cross bars

I don't have the length on the rope we cut, we just eyeballed it. Then we drilled one hole in each of the golf balls and used E600 glue to attach the rope. Each rope has 2 golf balls attached. We made 6 sets. We painted them after we had assembled them. 3 blue sets and 3 red sets.

Hubby also taped and spray painted designs on the cross bars of our ladderball set.

Once we had the set completed, Hubby wanted a bag to put the ladderball in. So we found some cheap outdoor fabric at Handcock Fabrics ($2.99/yard) and I whipped up a bag using a modified version of this yoga bag tutorial from Sew4Home. The only thing I changed was the length of the bag (mine is 37")and the length of the strap (mine is 44"), and I added a second pocket, but left off the flaps and just attached the velcro to the backside of the pocket and the bag. I also made my pockets pleated for a little extra room for the balls.

Here you can see the pockets on the front of the bag.
Here you can see the side of the bag and the strap. Sorry the pics are dark, I had to snap them quick while it was storming outside.

V-A-C-A-T-T-I-O-N, Spell it with me folks!

Yay! I'm so excited. I am leaving this morning for a whole week of vacation! Don't worry, I've got more posts scheduled for you, so you won't miss out on any bloggity fun while I'm gone :-)

We are headed on vacation to our annual timeshare destination. My parents have owned this timeshare since I was about 3, so I've only missed a few years in my whole life. My sister will be joining us for the weekend and my brother and sister-in-law will come early next week. It'll be great!

I'm a compulsive list maker, I LOVE to make lists. So I've been making vacation lists for a week now. I always write a packing list for myself to help me remember everything. My hubby is notorious for forgetting to pack things, so he requested that I also make him a list :-)

Sierra is going to stay with friends, so she got a list too. I have a list for my plant water-er/mail picker-upper. I have lists for everything :-) I'm only slightly embarrassed by this.

So later today, I'll be relaxing outside our cabin with a drink in my hand...maybe one of these...

These are top the list for favorite Root Beers at our house! They are so smooth and yummy and must be bought at the liquor store, as no one else carries them.

Gifts for Hubby!

I love to make stuff for everyone, so my hubby is on the top of my list to make stuff for (okay, maybe not the top top of the list, my cute new niece and my dog might have higher billing :-)

Any-who, I decided that in my frantic rush to make things before vacation, I needed to make him a new toiletry bag. He loves this fish fabric, which I've used for several other projects for him. But since he loves it so much, I decided to use it for the toiletry bag.


I used this tutorial from The Purl Bee. I had a little bit of trouble with it, but overall, I think it turned out nicely. Most of my trouble was that I needed to S-L-O-W down and R-E-A-D the directions. This was actually one of the easiest zippers I have attempted!

Sew Busy!

I know that I've been neglecting ya'll, but I've been so busy sewing! Last weekend, I completed 4 projects, Monday evening I completed another. I have two more that I am really hoping to finish before I leave for vacation on Friday morning! YIKES! I intended to spend yesterday afternoon sewing, but I ended up at my mom's house packing boxes! And since I haven't been sleeping well, I was too tired to sew anything after that. I tried, I really did.

I'm going to feature each completed project in a separate post. I'll start with a simple project, one for my doggie :-) Our cute as can be female cocker spaniel is in heat. Her previous owners bred her :-( And we just haven't quite gotten it worked out to get her spade yet. So anyway, she's been wearing little boys underpants turned backward (so her tail can stick out) while she is in heat. But I decided that she needed something cuter, that was easier on her tail. So I whipped up a couple of pairs of B!tch pants. I didn't take any pictures of my process, but here's a pic of Sierra in her cute heart panties.


Can ya tell she just loves them?

Fabulously Ugly

Now that I finally got my craft room painted, I headed out to some garage sales looking for a sewing chair to use at the fabulous table my dad made me for my birthday. So after a trip to the Farmer's Market, the Hubs and I headed out to a couple of garage sales. The first couple we a bust and we were thinking about going home, but I wanted to hit one more that had advertised craft supplies :-) I was actually thinking more about scoring some yarn or fabric or embellishments and less about finding a chair.



Right when we pulled up I saw these beauties...nice orange huh? They were marked at $7 each so I didn't look at them that closely. It was getting to be early afternoon and the sellers were getting anxious to get rid of some stuff, and told us to make an offer. I'm not usually big on wheelin' and dealin'. I usually just pay the asking price or don't buy it - I know, I know, it goes against the code of garage saling not to try to bargain. So, I put on my brave panties and asked her if she'd sell me both for $7. She offer to sell me both for $10, and if I'd had $10 on my I would have taken them for ten, but I only had $8. So I said, I only have $8. She paused...and then agreed to sell me both chairs for $8! SCORE!

So now I have a little work to do on the chairs before I can put them in the craft room, if only I could decide what color they want to be. Don't get me wrong, I like the orange - just not in my purple craft room. The seats of the chairs need to be replaced, down to the plywood. And they could be just a little cushier, so I'll be replacing the foam also. I think I'll put a fabric cover on the seat, instead of the faux-leather that's on there now.

So I'll take suggestions of what color you think I should paint these chairs. My mom is thinking that they should be green. With some funky green/purple combo fabric for the seat.

Homemade BBQ Sauce

I made this BBQ Sauce the week before Father's Day, it took a while, but it was well worth it! My hubby taste-tested it and thought it was good. It was even better after sitting in the fridge overnight. We made BBQ chicken, and it was awesome!

We used it on Pork Chops for Father's Day dinner. Yum!






Classic Barbecue Sauce (from Annie's Eats)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
3 cups yellow onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 tsp. kosher salt, divided
1 tsp. chili powder
¼ tsp. ground coriander (I omitted as I didn't have any)
¼ tsp. ground cumin
2-3 tbsp. honey
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed (I used light brown sugar because it was handy)
2 (28 oz.) cans diced tomatoes (Annie suggests fire-roasted, but I couldn't find any)
¾ cup cider vinegar¼ cup white vinegar
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2-3 tsp. black pepper
½-2 cups water
Directions:
In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until tender, about 5-6 minutes. Mix in 1 teaspoon of the kosher salt, the chili powder, coriander and cumin. Stir in the honey, molasses and dark brown sugar. Mix well and boil for about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and cider vinegar. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer on medium-low heat for 2-3 hours until the sauce has thickened and darkened. (I simmered mine for ~2.5 hours.)

Stir in the white vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste (up to about 1 tablespoon of each). Add the mixture to a blender or food processor. (I had to blend in two batches because it was so much) Add in about ½ cup water to start and process the mixture until smooth. Blend in more water if desired until the sauce has reached your desired thickness/consistency.

Store in airtight containers in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.


I had about 7 cups of BBQ Sauce when I was done. I divvied it up in to 1.5 cup containers and froze them.

Re-usable snack bags

I've been working on my husband on the whole "green" living idea. Last week I suggested that we reduce our consumables like plastic sandwich baggies and paper towels. He was a little puzzled about what we would used if we didn't buy paper towels or sandwich baggies, but I convinced him that regular cloths and rags would be just as good a substitute and we would not be doing more laundry than we already are. So I whipped up a couple of cute cloth baggies for packing in lunches. I used this tutorial from Angry Chicken. Her video is hilarious! And this was the easiest re-usable bag I found. Here's a couple of pictures of mine in action.