2/1/10 - 3/1/10

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28.2.10

Last Call!! Followers Are Special GiveAway...March 1st!

Today is the last day to sign up as a follower and be included in my "Followers Are Special" Giveaway! (I'll announce the winners on Tuesday morning!)

Read all about it here...

I am so grateful to all of you who follow this blog, that I want to have a special drawing...just for you. Just sign up to be a follower and I will put your name in the hat for  my "Thank You" to my followers giveaway. 

The drawing will be on March 1st.  I will give away three desk calendars for 2010--CrossStitch Pattern a Day, Sticker-A-Day, and Mary Englebreit on March 1st. Why? Because Followers are Special!!!

Family Fridge Chat..using Magnetic Letters

Sometimes you get an idea that is so GREAT...that you just have to share it ASAP!  Family are dropping by to grill out on the deck because it is so beautiful outside..spring is almost here!! So I don't have time to say much, but this was too good to pass up.

                               Message to friends who were staying overnight...from the boys





Sometimes we discover our children's dreams and aspirations...


I got a set of magnetized letters for my granddaughter to play with while I'm busy in the kitchen.  Then I thought, well, she might try to swallow them..better put them up high for now.  The rest as they say...is history.

Little did I know that in spite of this high-tech age of non-stop communication, that I could foster better communication..right here at home and it didn't require a single electronic gadget!

Somebody was having a bad day...Hmmm...

A picture is worth a thousand words...so I'll let the pictures do the talking here. (I had no idea that my kids were not too old for magnetized alphabet letters!)  We bought two sets...because one was just not enough....priceless!

Left this one for my hubby while I was gone to a tournment with the kids..it only took him three days to find it....all brains..no eyes--Ha! (It scared him half to death! He thought someone had gotten into the house while he was out.-Ha!)

Happy Homemaking!!!

W.I.P. Wednesday ....what I'm working on

I spent all of Saturday working on learning how to cover a couch cushion and managed to finish one. It turned out great! The rest will be much easier, I'm sure.  I also finished the hooded bath towel and will be sending it out tomorrow.  One of those posts will be up by tomorrow. 
  I've added new tabs to my 'pages' at the top and one is called "Sneak Peeks".  This is the page where I will add pictures of posts that are in progress.  Tomorrow, I'll be posting my grandmother's secret tip for making a store-bought apple pie taste homemade!



I thought you might enjoy seeing a few 'samples' of upcoming posts.  Now that I've combined my three blogs, you might want to do a little exploring today by clicking on the labels.  There's lots of new stuff to see!

Enjoy!

27.2.10

"A Happy Meal!" but it's not from McDonalds!

..from two years ago, in the spring.....


You will find, as your children get older, that each one has a special dream. Jacob's is to hunt. He has finished his hunting safety course, and has his own gun now, and he's studying very hard, but the real question was...could he really do it..or would he be afraid to take the life of an animal to put food on the table? He doesn't want to get 'the big buck' with lots of points, but he has a strong desire to be a 'hunter/provider". ( Is his last name "Pearl"?)


So how does a mom help make a dream like this come true? Well, she says YES when he asks her to 'please buy one meat chick".
And she helps him scald and pluck and clean and fry it when it's time to do so. I wasn't sure we would have the courage to dispatch a live chicken we had raised, but unfortunately, meat chickies (rock cornish hens) are bred to grow fast and will die of a heart attack if you don't process them by a certain age.

(Mrs. Happy is the White Hen on the Left)

Last week, after much searching on the internet for how to do this humanely and correctly, Tim, Jacob, and I took the plunge and dispatched "Mrs. Happy". She was not happy at the time as the weather was getting hot and she was miserable due to her huge size. I have to say God prepared me for this, because my daddy was an urbanite who wished he was a farmer. So I had already helped dispatch and pluck many and many a chicken. I don't like it..but I can do it.

We entered the 'pioneer' era of Little House on the Prairie...and processed our first meat chicken. Tim and I were very proud of Jacob that he handled the situation with fortitude and no squeamishness. It wasn't easy, but he took a little step into manhood in bearing up and doing what needed to be done. Mrs. Happy is in heaven now(if chickens go to heaven), but we all enjoyed the gift she gave us. (Except Andrew who is our 'nurturer' and to whom every animal is a pet.--he had mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner.) Honestly, it was pretty hard for me to. All of my chickens have names...all 35 of them!!

Next time we will buy five white chickens and nobody is going to name them!! Tim feels confident that Jacob will be able to help him take care of processing other animals once he begins to hunt. He will only be allowed to hunt for the purpose of bringing in food...but we know he will be able to handle the work required.  (We once had a friend who named a goat "Goat-burger". It didn't work--when they moved to California, Goat-burger retired to a neighboring farm.)
We will certainly have to 'cull' some of our flock later on as we can't feed 35 chickens who aren't laying eggs, and I know I will be able to count on our little man to take care of it for me. What a guy! (I should think raising girls would be so much simpler! Sigh...)


PS. Yes, the chicken tasted delicious!

26.2.10

Ruffles, Frogs, Hair and Prizes...Oh My!

I am going to be a very busy bee today...

In fact, I was busy yesterday and today will be pretty wild too, but hopefully, I will get this all done so I can settle down to my patient mother's couch cushions, which I'm 'attempting' to cover. I have little experience here, but I've read a few books and the cloth is all ready to go.  We'll see...  But first I have to get some birthday packages out the door. The towels you see will be made into a hooded bath towel for my grandson's birthday gift.  That was the 10th! I'm a little behind to say the least.

Yesterday, I made half a video of cutting Christian's hair...   That means that the sides are cut and the top is still long. He said that was fine--he thought he looked great. Did I ever tell you that boys are easily pleased? I need to patch all four videos together because my camera only takes 30 second videos. I've never done that so it will be a new thing to learn how to do. I didn't finish because we had to head off to debate club. We are getting the kids ready for the next tournament.

Then I finished the post on my sewing blog DC's Creations for how to add a ruffle to a blouse to lengthen it.  I also made a video showing how to use a ruffler foot. If you like to sew, you will love that foot!  I used it to make this T-shirt dress and to fix my blouse which was just way too short.


Well, I tried my best to get the prizes sent and thought I had it all put together on Tuesday. But when I went to fill the kits, I discovered that the black tote bags I had purchased had neon colored straps..yuk!  The green paint didn't match the leaves for the antique yo-yo's tote bag, and the black buttons for the travel tote were actually dark blue. Is that not exactly how it goes?!!

And when I went to exchange all of this at three different locations, after the debate meeting, they were out of black tote bags, there was no olive green paint, and since I didn't have a receipt, they wanted to call $3.00 buttons (2 large) an even exchange with $1.10 buttons.  That's a loss of four beautiful big buttons!! I just couldn't do it.  Why I didn't just buy the $1.10 buttons right then, I don't know. I think I was a little discouraged. Sigh..  It was just one of those days.  Talk about sidetracked!

Ah well, I'm enthusiastic today, in spite of the fact that my daughter came home from college class with a new diet plan for us to do 'together'. Oh Joy!  I just love protein powder and cream of wheat!  So we are going shopping together and I'll share the 'joy' with you on a later post.  Older kids do tend to keep us accountable. She's the reason I wear mildly modern styles rather than my old t-shirts and blue jeans.  I guess I'll be using that doggone exercise machine that I brought home from my father's house after all.  (Sewing is so much more fun!)

Well, she had dinner ready when I got home with the boys and my unsent packages, so I can't complain. It's just one of those busy kind of days where you make a lot of progress, but don't quite finish anything. (Except my blouse of course! Yeah!)

I don't want anyone thinking everything is 'perfect' around here. It never is.  I get a LOT done more by multi-tasking and jumping ship as Don Aslet says than by working meticulously down an orderly 'to do' list.  Check out one of my favorite resource books, "The 48 Hour Day" (new for $2.90 plus shipping) and you will see how I get so many things done and still have a great time! It will change your perspective on time management...for sure!

25.2.10

How to Use a Ruffler Foot to Alter a Blouse


As you know, I posted a How To on duplicating store bought clothes by making your own pattern. One of the things I warn you about is using the same cloth to make the duplicate that was used for the original blouse.

The reason I mention this is that that was one of the mistakes I made in the learning process. I copied a knit blouse, but used a cotton plaid cloth. The hips were just a wee bit to snug and really, the whole blouse was just a bit too short.

The first thing I did when the blouse was short, was to rip out the lower seven inches of the side seams so I had 'walking room'. I hemmed the raw edges of both sides. You often do the same thing on the lower sides seams of a long skirt.

So far so good, but when I realized that it's shortness was driving me crazy, I decided to add a ruffle. All well and good but now I have a these flaps.

I needed a solid lower edge of the blouse to attach the ruffle to. So I decided to make what I call a "V-patch". I laid the side seam of the blouse out totally flat and spread the front and back flaps open in a "v" shape. Then I slipped a square patch of matching fabric underneath. I pinned the hemmed edges right on top and top-stitched through all layers. I folded the lower edge of the patch and hemmed it just the same as the blouse.










To add a ruffle to a blouse with a ruffler foot.
 
  • First cut off a strip that is about 2 times longer than the actual width of the lower edge of the blouse.
  •   Next hem the strip with a narrow hem.
  • Then attach the ruffler foot to the machine. You have to loosen the screw and remove your original foot completely, attach the two fingers of the ruffler foot around the post and screw that normally holds a foot to the machine, but at the same time you have to hook the claw on the right side of the ruffler foot around the post that holds the needle in place. (It's the screw you loosen to remove and change the needle.)   Pictured first is the WRONG way to attach it.
(Wrong way) To the left, the two fingers  of the arm that attaches the foot to the machine is ready to grab the post and the screw and be tightened down. However the long claw arm is not in the right position. It needs to be hooked on to the post of the screw that you turn to loosen and allow the changing and removal of the needle on the upper right side of the sewing machine post.


(Right way.)Here, they are now both headed for the right position at the same time.This is a little tricky, but can be done!


HOW THE RUFFLER FOOT WORKS:  The ruffler foot won't work without the up down action of the post that holds the needle. That claw has to be in place. It loosely holds the post of the screw that you turn to remove the needle. When the needle goes up and down, this causes a little upper plate of the ruffler foot  to scoot forwards and backwards which pushes the cloth forward each time to make a pucker.  There is a lower plate and the two meet and pinch together. Your cloth needs to be inserted between the upper and lower thin metal plates of the foot and slid between the pinch. 

The cloth should not be directly in contact with your lower feed dogs and completely under the ruffler foot.  (Actually the reason for this, is that you could put another piece of cloth completely beneath the ruffler foot and it would allow you to make the ruffle and sew it to the blouse at the same time. This requires some practice so I'm just showing you how to make the ruffle by itself!)

  • Once you have fed the ruffle strip in between the two thin plates of the ruffler foot, lower your presser foot.  It won't work if you don't do this.  (See Ruffler Foot Video Part 1) in previous post.



  • Then you also want to decide where to set the little flat plate with the holes on the back of the ruffler foot. The hole furthest to the left allows you to sew with no ruffle action at all.  
( That way, after you have made the ruffle, rather than removing the foot and putting a regular foot on, you can just sew normally by putting the two pieces of cloth that you want to sew completely underneath the foot as if it wasn't a ruffler foot at all. If that was the case you would not slip anything between the two ruffle plates. Just put everything completely under the foot and against the feed dogs like normal.)
  • Setting the pucker width.  The next hole has a 12 on it. That setting is for a very tight ruffle..like gathering. The next hole to the right is a 6. It gives you a pucker every half inch or so.  The hole furthest to the right #1 allows for a pucker every inch or so. It results in a gentle ruffle.
  • Once you have inserted the cloth strip for the ruffle, and you have set your pucker spacing, and lowered the presser foot, all you have to do is step on the pedal and gently feed the cloth, keeping the raw edge straight while the ruffler foot grabs and tucks the cloth under the needle allowing it to sew the tucks in place.  (See Ruffler Video Part 2)
  • Let the machine do the feeding..you just keep the cloth loose and available for the foot to pull on. Take it at a nice slow speed.  (See Ruffler Video Part 3) for close up view.

Now, to add the ruffle...

Rather than cut off the blouse hem and sew the ruffle to the blouse with the right sides together, I just laid the raw edge of the hemmed ruffle, just under the finished hem of the blouse, pinned it in place and top stitched it down too.

I did zig-zag the raw edges of the ruffle first to keep the cotton from unraveling.
(This is a tight gather using the #12 setting)

I really think it turned out to be a pretty cute blouse for someone with my figure and shape. I was afraid the ruffle would add too much to the hips, but in a way, it may have 'camouflaged' them instead. My sleeves should have been puffier to make this a really balanced design..I'm serious considering re-doing them too.

Ah well..the ups and downs of designing your own clothes! But hey, I like it just fine and I love the cute ruffle. Hubby likes it too, so I would say it passed muster! Don't you?

24.2.10

Ruffler Foot Videos!!

Hi Everyone,

Hi everyone, I finally got a chance to do a good video of how to use the ruffler foot.  I made a blouse that was a duplicate of my favorite Van Heusan blouse, but it really turned out too short. It was also a little too small in the hips because it was made of cotton rather than stretch knit as the original blouse was.  One of those painful little lessons learned..Ouch!

So, I needed to add a ruffle to the bottom of the blouse. It's kind of 'in style' now--thank goodness! (I also added a V patch at the side seams to widen the hip. Good thing I got the last half yard on the bolt at Hancock's before the fabric sold out!

I'm not sure how clear the sound is,  but I'll be posting written instructions and photos soon which will help. I thought you might as well enjoy the videos now though, since they've been uploaded to you tube.

Enjoy!

A Day in the Country

 
What do you do when you wake up to an absolutely beautiful crisp winter day? That's right..get out the tractor!!! At least that's what you do around here.What is it about tractors that is so fascinating to the male gender?...the mud?..the grease?..the feel of cold hard steel...or maybe it's just those awesome big tires!  Whatever it is, the boys come running when they hear the beautiful roar of the tractor engine starting up...
I have to say that my hubby is absolutely 'tractor happy' today.  Actually he's been suffering from a severe case of 'tractor envy' for some time now.  The gas-powered blower satisfied him for some time...but it just wasn't quite enough--he wanted something much bigger!

Well, I'd love to say that he got a tractor, but he didn't. What he did get though, was driving privileges for the neighbor's tractor. In exchange for keeping an eye on our neighbor's equipment (somebody was vandalizing his stuff), he told Tim he could use the tractor any time he liked! Oh my!  Frankly, without neighbors, we'd be in trouble out here. We have to look out for each other and help each other too.

Well, Tim had to give the tractor a little TLC but it runs great!  First, he fixed our driveway which had become almost unnavigable. That was a few weeks ago. But yesterday, he did his best to fix our road. It gets so eroded that you can hardly drive over it. When it rains, like it does all the time, it gets even worse!

The 'joy' of living out in the middle of nowhere is that the road is 'community maintained'.  That means which ever neighbor gets sick and tired of the ruts first (and also owns a tractor) finally goes out and scrapes the red dirt until it is flat again.

Fixing the road is a family activity that we all like to participate in in one way or another. Rebekah uses it as an excuse to take Tex out. The boys use the spare time between rock excavations to horse around and I just usually take pictures.


There are very large rocks in the road, which Tim discovers as he works.  The boys make quick work of removing them. But all the hard work is worth it when they are all done

. The best thing is that you don't need a four-wheeler to get home when they are finished.  It's a perfect way to spend a perfect day at our home in the country. Come back soon!
“There's nothing half so pleasant as coming home again.” ~ Margaret Sangster

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