Getting Back in the Game

Hello friends, sorry I left everyone hanging.  I have been overwhelmed with the little thing we call life and honestly was feeling a bit burned out. So, a little housekeeping to begin with; I have pared down my blog reading list and if you find it I am no longer following you please don’t take it to heart. I needed to remove blogs that don’t hold my personal interest, but you are still on my blog roll for others to find. I was spending so much time trying to read everyone’s blogs that I never had enough time to respond to anyone. I have also become weighed down in my creative process by the need to produce a blog full of pictures every week. Because of this there may be less pictures and less posts overall; I want to create when I feel the urge not because I think I should. Now on to the good stuff!

I have been blessed with a flowing garden so I have been doing lots of canning. There are some that I used a packaged mix for but if you want the recipes for the tart pickles (not labeled) or the pickled banana peppers just leave me a comment.

The Bruschetta in use, very yummy!!!

And I have decided to take part in Kelly at The Year of Less’s August challenge; no more dryer for us.

 

Like any challenge this one needed some prep work and I am happy to say the clothesline is up:

 

The liquid fabric softener has been made (check out Discount Queens for the recipe):

 

And the clothespin holder has been created:

 

I can’t wait for the decrease in the electric bill (why did I wait for a challenge to make it happen??).

Hope everyone is having a great summer and getting a lot more rain than we are.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

It's finally done!

After an overload of schoolwork and finals, another trip to the store to get supplies, and a battle with the zipper my new purse is finally done!

Now on to the “how-to” for anyone that wants to make their own. And please forgive the not so great pictures my camera has had a few too many drops to floor.

You will need two pieces of inner fabric, two pieces of outer fabric, and four pieces of interfacing. Also material for pockets (or pockets taken off the uniform if you are using one), whatever you want to use for a strap (I used a belt), extra buckle or ring, fabric scraps for attaching the buckle, a zipper, and whatever embellishments you want.

 

  





















If you have read any of my other tutorials you know that I am not going to tell you what size to make everything because I want the items to be the size you want them to be. To make the sides of the purse you need to cut rectangles that are large enough to make half the side and half the bottom of your purse in addition to how large you want your length and height to be (remember to leave yourself seam allowance). Then attach the interfacing to the back of all the fabric. 

This is where the cut out corners come in. Cut out the bottom corners of all four pieces of fabric; these pieces will become the width of your side and bottom so think about how wide you want the purse to be when cutting the corners out (remember each piece is only half the width).

Next I added my pockets and embellishments to both the inner and outer fabric.

Then place the two pieces of inner fabric together, right sides facing, and sew down the sides and across the bottom, skipping the cut out corners. After you have sewed the sides and bottom pull your pocket open and you should be able to see how the corners line up to be sewn correctly (note it’s just on straight line for each corner). Then repeat this whole process with the outer fabric.

 

Next hem the top edge of both pockets. Leave the inner fabric right sides facing and turn the outer fabric so right sides are facing out. Now attach your strap to the outer fabric.

 

 

Finally put your inner fabric inside the outer fabric and sew the zipper between the two layers of fabric. Yes, I know that sounds so easy and for me it really wasn’t. I don’t really have great advice for making this step easier just go slow, just lots of pins to hold everything in place, and enjoy a nice glass of wine when you’re done!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Another Quick Project

Sorry there was no post last weekend and this weekend’s will be quick because we are off to the water park this afternoon! In desperate need of a cool-off from this 100 degree heat! On to the project!

Hair Scrunchies:

You will need a piece of elastic that is roughly 8 inches long and fabric that is 16-18 inches by 5-7 inches. A great way to use up scraps!

Step one: Hem the short ends of the fabric (and this is where my camera decided that fuzzy was all it would do, so no more pictures).

Step two: With right sides facing sew the long sides together, so you have a tube.

Step three: Turn tube right-side out and thread elastic through. My learning experience: if you make your fabric too skinny it is hard to turn the tube right-side out.

Step four: Sew the ends of the elastic together and then put one end of the fabric into the other and add a few stitches to keep it in place.

And you’re done! See quick and easy, customized, and costs less than the ones you buy at the store!

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

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Cucumber Makeover

Got a bunch of cukes from the garden this week so I decided to try my luck at pickles!

 After quality time wasted searching the net I found a fairly simple recipe (which I neglected to write down). And the process began!

"Soaking"

 

I sliced the cukes and onion and sprinkled salt over them as I layered them in a bowl and let them sit overnight. Then they had to be drained and rinsed.

Pardon the stove mess, cooking is messy business!

 

After that I boiled 1 & ½ cups of apple cider vinegar, 1 & ½ tablespoons mustard seed, 1 teaspoon celery seed, and ½ teaspoon turmeric (you may need more or less depending on how many cukes you have). Then I added the cukes and onion to cook for about 3 minutes.

 

Scooped out the pickles into canning jars and boiled them for 10 minutes to seal them and here they are in all their canned glory! Now I just have to wait two weeks for the flavors to mingle and we will see if they taste as good as they look!

 

Now I need some help…

I found this yummy idea for flavored water that Monica shared at The Yummy Life 

 

And now I need to make some and making some for me means I need to start growing my own herbs. There the problem begins because I have cats, cats that eat anything I try to grow, so I would love suggestions for growing herbs indoors that are cat proof!

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