PIllow Case Dress

Pillow case dresses for little girls are all the rage this year, at least if I go by what I see on Pinterest.  I'm sure Pinterest would never lie.  I've pinned several different ones I want to make, and have successfully made two already for the grandbaby P.  P is 7 months old right now, so a dress and diaper cover for someone her size takes about a 1/2 yard of fabric.  I bought some seersucker fabric that was on sale, along with one package of double fold bias tape, and a package of jumbo rick rack.

Because there aren't many patterns for a pillow case dress, you can just make your own pattern.  Don't panic, I'll show you how.  First, get a dress that fits (sleeveless is best), or is maybe just a touch too big.  This will be your pattern.  Fold your fabric in half and lay your dress on the fabric.  If you are making a diaper cover too, be sure you lay those pieces out as well.  I found my diaper cover pattern over at "Make It and Love It".

Start with the top of the dress (the shoulders) at the top of your fabric.  This will allow you enough extra for the seam allowance at the top.  Then just cut a rectangle, the same width as the bottom of the skirt.

Next, you are going to cut out the arm holes.  Again, don't panic, you have a pattern.  Just slide the dress over so the top of the shoulder of the dress is touching the top of your fabric, and the under arm is touching the side of the fabric.  Now, carefully, without cutting your dress, cut out the arm holes.

Do that same thing to the other side.  Your pattern is cut out!  Now, the real fun begins!

Top stitch or serge the top of the dress pieces and the arm holes.

Now, lay your two pieces side by side, sided touching and pull out your jumbo rick rack (or ribbon, or whatever you are going to embellish with).  Lay this across both pieces - one long piece - and pin in place.

That is my little secret to making these match up on the dress, and trust me, I've have my share of ones not match up!  If yours don't match up in the end, don't worry, this dress is going on a moving baby, and she's not gonna care :)

Top stitch this onto your fabric, then with right sides together, sew the dress sides together, making sure the rick rack matches. 

Then, using your bias tape, pin it around your arm holes.  It's kind of like filling a taco shell, put the dress fabric in between the two layers of bias tape and pin.  Do this to both arms, then top stitch in place.  Bias tape is kind of stretchy, and will form around the curve of your arm just fine.

Fold down the top of the dress to form the casing for your ribbon, which will become your dress straps.  How far you fold it depends on the ribbon you will be using.  I folded mine down about 1 1/4".  Then stitch 1/4" from the bottom (serged) edge.  Do this to both sides. 

Now, it's time to hem your dress.  I serged the bottom of the dress.  You can zigzag the bottom too.  Then I fold the material up about 1/4 to 1/2" and topstitch in place.  I used a zigzag top stitch, but you can use a straight stitch, or a decorative stitch too.  Your sewing is complete! 

Only one final step, and that's to run the ribbon through your casing at the top of the dress.  Start at the left hand side back of the dress, coming out the back right side, then threw through the right side front of the dress, coming out the front left side.  Tie the two ends of your ribbon is a bow, leaving enough room for little arms to fit into and give a little extra for some growing room.  This dress can be a sun top with shorts next year.

Admire your work and go eat a cookie!  You deserve it. 

Meal Planning in Podunk

Continuing what I started last week, I will again be participating in Meal Planning Monday, over at "I'm an Organizing Junkie".  You should really go visit her - TONS of menu ideas. 

I'm an Organizing Junkie

Sure made my life easier last week. I'll take every bit of easier I can get!

I started out by checking my local grocery store's weekly ads to see what was on sale. I gotta say, that for Podunk, our grocery store is pretty great.  Looks like a great deal on chicken breasts, hamburger and vegetables, so that is the foundation of this week's menu.  I also kept in mind that our hens have started laying, and I have eggs that must get used, Cinco de Mayo is on Saturday, and finally, I have lots of recipes I've found on Pinterest that need to be tried!



Two of our free range hens



I hope you enjoy!

Monday - Hamburgers, Sweet Potato fries {P}, deviled eggs (use those eggs!)

Tuesday - Spicy Chicken Rigatoni {P}, roast vegetables {P}, French Bread, Snickers brownies {P}

Wednesday - Breakfast - scrambled eggs (hens again), bacon and Cinnamon rolls{P}

Thursday - Bourbon Chicken (see recipe below) and Egg rolls

Friday - Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta, Roast vegetables {P} French bread,

CINCO DE MAYO - Chicken Tacos {CR}{P} Mexican Rice, Tres Leches Cake and Margaritas

Sunday - brunch - Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuit casserole {P} (more eggs!)

Sunday - dinner - Grilled Cheese sandwiches and Tomato basil soup {CR} (see recipe below)

{CR} = Crock pot
{P} = Thank you, Pinterest




Recipes

Bourbon Chicken - From Food.com

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 -2  tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup soy sauce

Directions

1. Heat oil in large skillet.
2. Add chicken pieces and cook until lightly brown.
3. Remove chicken.
4. Add remaining ingredients, heating over medium heat until well mixed and dissolved.
5. Add chicken and bring to a hard boil.
6. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
7. Serve over hot rice and ENJOY.

***NOTE:  I usually add some fresh vegetables (broccoli, peppers, sugar snap peas) the last 10 minutes of simmer for some additional nutritional value.

Tomato Basil Soup
2 cans (14.5oz) crushed tomatoes (I also like fire roasted diced tomatoes)
12 fresh basil leaves (may use dried basil, or Italian seasoning, about 2 tbsp)
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter
Salt to taste
¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper

Pour tomatoes into small crock pot on low for 2 - 3 hours. Puree, with the basil leaves, in small batches, in blender or food processor. Return to crock pot and add cream, butter, salt and pepper, cover and cook on low another hour or until ready to serve. Garnish with basil leaves and serve with your favorite bread.

When a light bulb goes off!

*** UPDATE - New and Improved Menu board - see bottom of post for additional details! Sometimes I even amaze myself! LOL. 

My new menu board!

Have you ever had a moment when a light bulb just went off, and something you've been struggling with suddenly seems so simple?  I'm not talking about world peace here, my issues in Podunk are much more minor than that, but issues none the less.  Maybe I should call them annoyances rather than issues - you get the point.


I love to cook, but how to organize my recipes and recipe books and clipped recipes and pinned recipes and recipes in my head and on my computer drive me crazy.  Crazy to the point that a few months back, before Christmas, when I was cleaning (this doesn't happen often!) I got completely fed up with my current non-system and threw the whole mess away.  Well, not the whole mess, but a good portion.  Some of the cookbooks I donated to the local DAV. 


That leaves me with no system at all, which up until now, I've been OK with.  In case you hadn't guessed, I'm not an organized person by nature.  I am a want-to-be organized person, just sometime don't know where to start. 


This led me to Pinterest (is anyone else addicted to this site?  Of course you are, don't lie!) in search of ideas.  The first one I found was wonderful, fabulous, spectacular from a blog robbygurl - it just wasn't for me.  Too organized (is there such a thing?) and too time consuming for me to think I would actually get it done.  I see now where she sells them, so if you want to purchase one, I'm sure she would love to sell you one.  I don't know her, but that would be my guess!


picture from robbygurl


 Then I found another organizing idea on Pinterest, this time from a blog called The homes I have made, which I think is great.  She saw the board from robbygurl on Pinterest too!  Her recipe calendar is a little simpler (which I liked) and still colorful and easy to manage. 

picture from The Homes I Have Made

Isn't it great?  And the real beauty of this calendar is that it somewhat resembles how my recipes were organized way back when.  I thought I might be able to manage something like this, but my one concern was that I just don't have any space in my kitchen for the calendar board.  Plus, I'm kind of cheap frugal, and really didn't want to go out and buy a board if I didn't think I would use it long term.


I did, however LOVE her idea to use magnets with the recipe names on the board.  This is when the light bulb went off.  I would do a weekly calendar (more manageable for me) and instead of using a special board, I would clear a spot on my refrigerator, and use the front of the fridge! 


I happened to already have magnetic paper (did I mention I work for a paper company!) and I already had some 3 ring binders and clear page covers, so no need to run to the store for supplies, BONUS!

I started with looking for a label template that I liked, and found an Avery template that fits labels 3261, 8257, 8760 and 8987 which are 30 up, and are about 1" x 2.5".  I like the size, and very little wasted paper.  Magnetic paper is not inexpensive! 

I started by typing in all the days of the week using a fun font.  Gotta make it fun, right?  Then I pulled out my recipe clear plastic tub (don't laugh! OK, maybe just a little) and started typing in names of my most used recipes/meals.

clear plastic tub of recipes - what a mess!

Not all of your meals need a recipe, right?  For me that's stuff like fried rice (way to use up leftover meats) or spaghetti & meatballs ('cuz I buy the sauce and meatballs).  You know what those meals are for you. 

I also typed in all the days of the week.  If you want, you could add "lunch" and "dinner" too.  I'm generally the only one home for lunch, since I work from the house, but if a "lunch" menu helps you, by all means, add it.

Once I was done with a sheet, it looked something like this:

Magnets

I really liked the colors that "The Homes I Have Made" used, but my printer was low on ink, and remember earlier I mentioned how cheap frugal I am?  I figure I will dig out the markers later and maybe add a colored border.  

Then I cut them apart, and headed to the fridge to see what they looked like.  I had already planned my menu for this week, so it was easy to assemble, once I had cleared a spot of pictures and coupons and the such.



Fridge with a split personality!



After I decided that I liked it, I took my recipes and began to put them into the clear sleeves and when I did that, I numbered the sleeves.  Each recipe gets a number and I wrote the recipe number on the little magnet (if it had an actual recipe).  This keeps all of my recipes in one 3 ring binder instead of needing several binders.  If I find I need another binder, I will continue with the numbers, and just label the outside of the binder number 1 - 100, 101-200, etc.

I will eventually need to organize my magnets, but for now, they are going into a Ziploc bag.  You know the kind with the label area on the outside, and I will sort them by entree, side, dessert and whatever other category makes sense to me.  This is a bit of a work in progress, but one that I think I can manage.  Yeah me!!

** UPDATE **

I was going to start adding my colored borders, you know, like I mentioned above, with markers, but then suddenly, it hit me (not literally of course) scrapbooking paper!  I have some a lot of unused, lone sheets of scrapbooking paper.  I went rummaging thru my semi-organized file of scrapbook paper, and found 5 single sheets of paper that I liked for this project.  Nothing too dark, I was afraid the type would show very well on paper that was too dark.  Then I cut the sheets that were 12 x 12 down to the same size as the magnetic paper, which is 8.5 x 11.  I used scissors, because there were only two sheets to cut, so I wasn't getting out the paper cutter for that.

Then I printed my recipe/menu titles out.  I didn't take time to sort them into categories before I printed this first sheet - I was excited to see if this would work, and look great.  I'm inpatient that way!

Once printed, I pulled out the spray adhesive and a piece of newspaper.  If you haven't used spray adhesive before, be sure to spray either outside with a piece of newspaper behind it, or inside with LOTS of newspaper behind it.  This stuff is sticky - they aren't kidding about the adhesive part here people!

Spray it really well, because you will be cutting this into little rectangles, and you want this to stick.  Once you have the back of your recipes/menu sprayed, stick it to the white side of your magnetic paper.  I rubbed the top of the scrapbooking paper down really, really well on the magnetic paper, and then let it dry for a few minutes, before I cut them apart the little rectangles.  They stuck just fine to the magnetic paper, and the true test, they stuck just fine to my fridge.  No plain, white, boring menu board!  I am pumped about the easy addition of color, and also about not having to pull out the markers.  I am also pumped about finding some scrapbook paper with Chinese writing on it (why did I think I needed that originally?) and printing all of my Chinese recipes out on it!  Yes, I'm officially a menu board nerd! :)



A Garden in Podunk aka the Redneck Garden

The gardening bug has hit me full force, and for the last almost month, I have been on Pinterest and a number of gardening sites plotting my garden.  STOP right now if you think this post will be insightful in any way!  In fact, if I were the betting sort, I would wager that 50% of my plants will be dead in less than a month, that I will be lucky to pick one tomato grown by me, and that the farmers' market will be my primary source of fresh vegetables once again this year!

The two younger daughters and I went to Lowes to shop for plants yesterday.  If I am telling the entire truth here, they only reluctantly agreed to come with me because I promised (and kept it) that we would go across the street to PetSmart after Lowes to look at a dog to adopt. 

I brought home a blueberry bush, 6 strawberry plants and 10 strawberry roots, one rosemary, one cilantro, one basil and three tomato plants.  I also purchased "gardening" soil, vermiculite and 4 5-gallon buckets.  We did not bring home a dog... that saga will continue.

The fun began this morning... after watering each plant, I began the transplant.   From this site, which I found via Pinterest, I built a tower herb garden.  I used 6 diet Pepsi two liter bottles, duct tape (doesn't every project from Podunk need duct tape) and an exact-o knife. 

I'm a little concerned about it tipping over with the wind here, but so far so good. 

I am also wondering if the rosemary will get enough water.  I've poured quite a bit in the top, and so far nothing has made it to the overflow at the bottom. 

My second completed project was to plant the strawberries in a Topy Turvy strawberry planter I bought last year on clearance for $1.00.  I figured it was worth $1.00 to try it.  If it works, I can make some more.

I ended up not having enough plants, because reading how many it would hold BEFORE going to Lowes yesterday would have resembled planning, and we simply can not have that!  Daughter #3 thought I was putting too many plants in it anyway. 

The blueberry plant got planted in a large pot I have so it can be a container garden blueberry.  If I were to plant it somewhere "permanent" I am sure the deer here would eat it before I get the chance to kill it.  This one's all mine!  I didn't take any pictures...it just looks like a stick at the moment.  If I get leaves, I will take a picture, if it doesn't I will return it to Lowes for a refund!

The tomatoes will have to wait until tomorrow.  I ran out of soil (more lack of planning).  They are going in the 5 gallon buckets, in a system called global buckets, I found here.  Two teenage boys came up with this, so maybe, just maybe, I can get at least one tomato before I kill the plants.  I am also going to try a pepper plant this way.  Lowes did not have any pepper plants yet (lucky peppers). 

I will, of course, be bringing these plants into the sun room every night, until the nights are warm enough, but like I said, I have the gardening bug!

25 Cent Sunday

For the last few weeks, my 3 daughters, granddaughter and I have been sharing some quality time, and making great memories on Sunday mornings with a new obsession of ours -  THE 25 CENT SALE.

 

Our local thrift store has item with certain colored tags for 25 cents or 5 for $1.00.  Amazing! Incredible!  To quote one of my co-workers "you can't get anything for 25 cents".  Oh, but you are wrong. 

This past weekend, here is what we got:

Fancy little basket - already holding the remote at DD#1's new house.

Two Jones New York sweaters for me.  The gray is a long sleeve, and the pink on it exactly matches a scarf I just finished crocheting.  The blue is short sleeved.  Both are in perfect condition.  I wore the gray one and the scarf to work today.

An adorable skirt for DD#3 to wear for various school functions.  If she only wears it once, I'm money ahead!

Two more baskets for DD #1 new house.  No, the apples were not included, but by the time I got the pictures, the fruit was already in there and on her kitchen counter.  The darker basket with a handle is now in her guest bath with wash cloths.

Three knit shirts of various sizes that I purchased to make bibs for Ms Paytan. The green one is Paul Frank.  I am planning on using the "bapron" pattern that DD #1 found here via Pinterest. It's such a cute pattern, with an even cuter baby model.  I can't wait to make one (or actually several).

Three great guys plaid shirts.  One is Old Navy, one is Ralph Lauren, and one is Redhead (Bass Pro brand).  I can't decide what exactly to do with these, but I love the colors.  They will either become bibs for a little nephew (maybe not the pink one!), throw pillow covers, or rag quilt pieces.  Maybe all three!  DD#1 also bought 3 men's shirts that I didn't get a picture of, and they are already throw pillow covers.

Two light weight shirts to make little summer dresses and diaper covers for Ms Paytan.  Thinking something lady bug from the black checked one, similar to this dress I found on Pinterest.

DD#1 bought 2 summer dresses (back row) and two summer tops.

She also bought this simply darling little top. It is going to become a dress for Ms Paytan to wear to DD#2 high school graduation.  Love the details, and while you can't tell very well from the picture, the buttons are sparkly.





And certainly not least, a Carter's sundress in perfect condition.  This one will have to go into a rubbermaid storage tub for next summer, but for 25 cents, DD#1 will happily store it.

What I didn't take pictures of were the 6 throw pillows of different sizes that are all going to be recovered, a king size sheet that is going to become curtains for DD#1 guest bedroom, 2 sweatshirt that DD#2 is going to do something crafty to, a pair of jean shorts for DD#3, a picture frame and a gray, never been worn blazer for me to wear to work.

In total, I spent $4.00 (this includes DD#2 and #3), and DD#1 spent $9.00. 

Now, I must craft and sew everything I bought so we can go again next Sunday.







My New Fat Quarters

I found this quilt that I simply LOVE on Pinterest.  So basic, but so colorful.

And I followed the link off of Pinterest to a blog called Stitched in Color.   She has a whole tutorial on how to make this quilt.  At first I was thinking "what a great idea for my scraps", and in fact I think that's what I said on my pin.

But then, I remembered that I have a nephew due in February, and this would be an easy baby quilt to make.  Only problem was I wanted some really great farm/boy fabric, and the "box" fabric stores near Podunk just don't have the best selection.  So, I followed the advise on the blog, and visited her advertisers... isn't that what all bloggers want you to do anyway?

I found this great fabric, in fat quarters, just as her blog suggested.

Isn't it fabulous? Lots of tiny cows and sheep and pigs and tractors. Just what a little boy needs.  And more than enough to make this quilt with!  I might even have scraps left over to make bibs out of.

I ordered it on a Friday.  They shipped it on the same day, and I got in on Tuesday.

I highly recommend ordering online!  It was so easy.  I will be doing it again. I got this fabric from Fat Quarter Shop.  I will be posting pictures of the quilt when I'm done.  I will, however, be making one slight change to the original instructions - I will be sending this off to get machine quilted.  I've tried to quilt them myself, and it always comes out looking like a herd of monkeys did the quilting! 

No monkey quilting for the new nephew!

Pinterest

Is anyone else addicted to Pinterest?  I know you're out there... I suspect there are many of us! I hope.  PLEASE let there be someone else. PLEASE.  

I would like to say that I am taking part in the 12 step program to kick this addiction, but I'm not.  I like this addiction, and I don't WANT to kick it.  In the interest of full disclosure, I do think that recognizing you have an addiction is the first step.

Here's what I've made... so far!

I have made sugar hand scrub before.  I found my first recipe here, on the Chickens in the Road blog (one of my very favorites).  But then on Pinterest, there were so many scents and combinations I had never thought of before.  Perhaps for good reason.  I "created" the peppermint sugar scrub picture all by myself.  BAD idea.  It smells amazing.  It looks amazing.  This problem is after sitting for a week to give for Christmas presents, the stuff turned into a solid chunk, and I had to throw it out.  I will stick to the tried and true recipes.  The ones I eventually used are here, but they are really everywhere.

The girls were needing Christmas presents for the FFA gift exchange, and these redneck wine glasses were so cute, but in the store they are like $14.99!  No way, but on Pinterest, I spent $2.00 per glass plus the candy and eventual ribbon that was added.  Everyone that didn't get one was jealous.

We always try to make a special Christmas present for the couple that got us started in cows.  This year we made custom coasters and glasses etched with their farm name.  The calf on the coaster is the first calf we bought from them.  We did 6 coasters with 6 pictures of their different cow.  I didn't get a picture of the glasses, but I also did some glass etching for me.

I borrowed a friend's cricut to cut the "B" out of vinyl.  It worked amazingly!  I made a ton of glass etched Christmas presents, and so did daughter #1.  Now I want a cricut!



These lovely little things are crocheted braclets.  I made one for all the girls for stocking stuffers.  The Pinterest link went to an Etsy shop, and they wanted $28.00 for one.  I just used my smallest crochet hook (which ironically I realized later was label "Loreal" lol) and chained a bunch of stitches (I just wrapped it around my wrist to determine how long) and then single crocheted two rows, added a button, and walla, stocking stuffer.

I made two of these for my sister in law for Christmas, only I never gave them to her!  She got sugar scrub instead!  (Sorry Sally!)  They just look so cute on my dining room table, and smell good too.  The little square glass voltive came from the Dollar Tree ($1.00 each) and then I got whole coffee beans from Dollar General, and I already had the tea lights.  I do intend to glass etch some for Sally as a gift later... really.

And last, but certainly not least is my spin on this adorable crocheted bag, instructions are found somewhere on the internet, but I've lost the link.  If anyone knows where this came from, I would be happy to link the instructions.  But I made a spin on the original instuctions by making this bag 100% out of recycled plastic grocery bags.  I will be posting the complete instructions later, but if you want to make one, start saving your plastic grocery bags now.  It takes about 50 bags!

I have so much stuff pinned.  I can't wait to share it all with you.  What are you pinning?