Sling Shot Muscle Tee

Project Run and Play's challenge for the month is this muscle tee.

I was excited, because I've been wanting to make something for Delsin.

But it seems like all I've had time to do lately is patch the knees in his jeans, and replace the zippers on his backpacks.  In other words, all of my sewing time has been consumed with mending.

But that's not to say I've been doing much mending either.

Kai sold and we've delivered 814 boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

Delsin has sold 50 camp cards for Cub Scouts.

I've had a granny pass away in the past week and a half.

Another granny become cancer free after surgery, chemo, and another surgery last week.

 So, as always, I've been very busy.

But I wanted so badly to make at least one shirt for this month's project.

Since I'm leaving town for a week, at lunch time today, I knew my last chance was last night.

I went to bed at 4:30 this morning, but I made the exact shirt I wanted to give Delsin. 

First of all I went to the closest fabric store and bought a couple of different knits they had.  Well, the only two knits they had.  One was white and one was white and black blocks.  Kinda like a checker board, but HUGE blocks.  Delsin wanted red.  I wasn't going to drive to the other fabric store an hour away, or order anything and wait for it to arrive, but I was lucky enough to find a dress in my fabric stash.  It was a dress from Cache' that my Granny (the one with cancer) had given me.  Someone had cut the shoulders of the dress, so I put it in my fabric stash.  It took me several hours to deconstruct the dress so I could save the elastic too, but I had plenty of fabric after that.  Nice!

I've been wanting to try out doing a freezer paper stencil for a couple of years now.

This seemed like the perfect time.

I've also known that I wanted to make Delsin a shirt with a sling shot on it.  He's had a love for slingshots for a few years now.  And one day he and my daddy, his Papa, got together and made a slingshot together.  Papa had picked out the tree branch a long time before and it's something very special to Delsin.

After I drew out the sling shot on freezer paper I decided to see if I could make putting his name on it, to match his actual sling shot.

It turned out!

Thanks for checking it out!

Double Sided Door Draft Stopper Tutorial

This is the bottom of our basement door.

For the past 4 winters, as long as we've lived here I've been wanting to make a door stopper to keep the draft from coming up from the basement.

Tonight that became a finalized reality.

And now I'm about to tell you how to make one for your own drafty door.

You will need:

-Something to stuff each side of this door draft stopper with.  I used an old towel.  I have seen some with water pipe insulation, but I used an old towel for mine.

- A pair of scissors.

-Needle and thread

- Cute fabric for the cover. 1/2 a yard should be plenty.  I used the legs cut off of some old pajama pants.  I love to upcycle.

-A cute helper doesn't hurt.  I wanted to take this opportunity to let my 4 year old get a little sewing experience.

Step 1:

Hold your towel up to your doorway and cut the ends off of each side to make it match the width of the doorway.

Next you are going to roll up the long sides of the towel, until you get to the center of the towel.  Make sure to leave space for the bottom of the door between your rolls.  You can add the pieces you cut off of the ends of the towel to the inside of the rolls, by laying the cut pieces down lengthwise on the sides of the towel.

Step 2:
Stitch the rolls into place, by hand.

Your little helper can do this too.

 Just be sure to warn him or her beforehand about the fact that they WILL prick their fingers, and it WILL hurt.  But it won't hurt for long and that's just part of sewing.
Everybody does it.

Poor tough little girl.  She was so proud that she didn't quit.
I sewed down one side, while she did the other.
Then of course I helped her on her side.

Step 3:
Get your cover ready.

My mom recently sent me a box of clothes for the kids.
Inside was a grocery bag full of the bottoms of pajama pants.
Someone had cut them off to make pajama shorts, and I got the scraps.
Nice!
Thanks Mom!
I just put one pant leg inside the other with the right sides of the fabric facing and stitched the raw edges together to make one long tube.

If you are simply using fabric you bought at the store, then just wrap it around the towel and leave yourself about 1/2" of seam allowance.
Step 4:

Then I slipped the towel inside the tube and pinned to show where I wanted my seams to go.
I've got the cover turned inside out for this step.

Step 5:
Sew the side and one edge along the outline shown by the pins.

Step 6:
Flip it right side out and slip it over the door draft stopper (towel portion).
Now sew closed the end of thecover, and zig zag stitch up the middle, where it will fit under the door.

And now it's done!
So darn easy, and it took me so darn long to sit down and get it done.
Shame, shame, shame it took me so long to make this.

Thanks for checking my blog out!

Jelly Pancakes

I made these for breakfast one morning last month.  They were kinda like an appetizer to regular pancakes that I did not get a picture of.  But I took both recipes from page 95 of the All About Home Baking cookbook.   I've blogged about this cookbook before.  It was published in 1933 and I just love finding interesting recipes in this cookbook.  

This was a pancake recipe that was different from the other recipe in that it called for flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, milk, egg yolks, egg whites, & butter or shortening.  

The other pancake recipe I tried that same morning called for cake flour, baking soda, salt, egg, buttermilk, and butter or shortening.

After you cook the pancakes, you spread jelly on them and roll them up.  

Everybody begged for more, but it was actually quite a bit more work, because of sifting, beating the egg yolks, then beating the egg whites till they were stiff.  

A very good recipe though, and great for making something special occasionally.

Neck Tie Tees

I made two of these neck tie t-shirts for the boys back in December of 2012, I believe.

Delsin's was on a regular t-shirt for his size at the time.

The one pictured was the one I made for Enoch.

They loved them and got lots of compliments on them.

I may make some more in the future.

This or next week I hope to work on the muscle tees for Project Run and Play's February Challenge.

But first I need to finish working on a door draft stopper.

I started on it two weeks ago!!

Where does the time go?  I'll tell ya.  I've been trying to go gluten free lately and that's taking a lot of time, making bread and eating differently from the rest of the family.

Plus, these 4 kids can wreck a room in less time than it takes me to get out of bed, obviously.

What a whirl!

It only took me 3 hours to vacuum the living room floor (I had to pick everything up off of it first, and repeatedly put the little rug rats back to bed :). 

Maybe I'll work on it a little after I feed the baby her midnight meal.

That is, if I don't fall asleep while feeding her.  

Breastfeeding takes it right out of you.

Yikes!  She's calling!  Right on schedule.

My First Quiche and First Coconut Cake!

     Family get-togethers, especially at the holidays, always remind me of my Granny Rader, and family get-togethers with Granny Rader always remind me of Granny's coconut cake.

     Since we missed Thanksgiving due to the flu I've been craving coconut cake.  I would have thought Granny's recipe would have been in the FCE's "Sweet Treats"cookbook that they sold in the last year or two, but it wasn't.  

     I don't know why I didn't just call her to get it.  I guess I wanted to try one in one of my books.  So, I settled on one in a cookbook that showcases blue ribbon winning recipes at state fairs.  I would get up and look to see what the name of it is, but this guy just showed up and started cuddling against my booty.  I can't bare to make him move just yet.

     The Quiche was a spinach quiche recipe from the red and white Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  The only difference is I used canned spinach instead of fresh.  This was one of those nights where I had no meat in the house, or fresh veggies, so I had to pull something together from what was in the pantry.  

     I loved it, but I know I'm the only one. Delsin made it very clear.  Kai scarfed it down fast, so she could get to the cake.  Carolina and Enoch asked to be spoon fed, but gagged on every second bite, and Daniel just told everyone that sometimes we have to eat things we don't like. It was funny, but everyone was respectful.  I'll try a different recipe in another year. :)

     The recipe I used for the cake was The All-New Blue Ribbon Cookbook, by Catherine Hanley, page 176 "Coconut Supream Cake". The only thing I didn't have was coconut flavoring, so I added a little shredded coconut to the cake batter (about a tablespoon).  Daniel loved it!

Christmas Pajamas 2013

So, for 2012 and 2013 I rarely found the chance to blog.

I was getting diagnosed with and trying to gain control of my Grave's disease and Type 1 diabetes during that time and I can say I was totally exhausted all that time.

Funny how now that I have a newborn I seem to have tons more energy.

For one thing, the pregnancy sent my Grave's disease into remission, so that was a blessing.

Thank you Lord!

Here are the Christmas pajamas I never blogged about for the 2013 Christmas season.

Now, mind you, I just took these pictures within the past few days.

Actually, Daniel did this photo shoot with Kai.

He did a good job of making it fun.

When I made the night gown it was longer on her.  I wanted it to be sort of like Cindy Lou Who's nightgown. Coming in toward the legs at the bottom.  Kai wears it often, but asked me to never make her another nightgown with elastic in the bottom again, please.

Guess it's not that comfortable to walk in.

Carolina's pajamas were a two piece. 

The top is made with two different prints of flannel.

I didn't have enough of either to make the whole set, so the sleeves and missing pants have a pink Easter Bunny print on the fabric.

The bodice of the top has frogs and pink Gerber daisies.

You can't see the buttons.  I'll probably get a better picture once the pants turn up.

But the buttons are pink and purple Gerber daisies too.  Perfect.

I don't know how long I've had those buttons in my stash.

Very cute together.

Enoch and Delsin simply got pajama pants.

 

 Enoch is posing.

I keep seeing Delsin's in the dirty clothes, but can't seem to catch him actually wearing them long enough to get a picture.  Gotta get up early to catch that boy.

Delsin's pants are exactly the same, only his size.

If I get a picture I'll update the blog post.