Saturday, March 21, 2020

We Are All in this Together!


Let's Do Something!

Last night I was laying in bed wondering what I could do to help and it caused me quite a bit of sleeplessness.  I thought back to all of the amazing childhood memories I made with my maternal grandparents, Ruth and Chuck Olson and it made me realize something...  All of the fun activities we did, games we played and meals we cooked were extremely thrifty using mostly things you already have at home and we had a blast!  Grandma Ruth was born in 1914 and Grandpa was born in 1909.  They lived through the depression and were very thrifty and resourceful.  I never realized until now that the time spent with them shaped who I am today and how I view things.  I never told people that I used to have a blog because the things I do seem weird and old fashioned.  This blog really is a tribute to the things my grandparents taught me in all the fun hours I spent with them.  I plan on posting some of the things here over the next days that we did, because I think kids today would still enjoy some good old fashioned fun.

Back to why I'm posting here...  How can we help the world be a better place while practicing social distancing?
1.  You need some basic sewing skills for this first one, but I am going to make some cotton face masks to donate.  You could argue the effectiveness of this endeavor but a cotton mask is better than no mask at all.  Obviously they will be washed before use.
2.  Visit someone at the Lutheran Home from outside their window.  My mom and I did this and it was really fun.  It's not the same as a regular visit, but it is better than no visits at all.
3.  Take a meal to someone that could use a pick me up.  I did this the other day.  They were lasagnas that I made about a month ago, covered in several layers of foil and put in the freezer.  I did NOT make these meals now, while the germs are flying.  I also told the person to wipe down all of the foil with clorox wipes since I had just touched the packaging to deliver.
4.  Pastors Heather and Rich talk a lot about fasting to get in in better touch with your spirituality.  This is not something I had ever really thought about before and it is going to be a tough one for me, but I'm going to try it for a day.  What does it feel like for the people right now that aren't lucky enough to have a house stocked with food?  What would happen to the overwhelming demand for food if we each fasted for just 1 day?
5.  Resist the urge to hoard.  This is a super tough one but it is definitely the thing killing the supply chain.
6.  Be kind, especially on social media.  We all have differing opinions and that is okay.  What is not okay is to berate and demean someone else for having a different opinion than you.  I don't personally know anyone that has changed their point of view from being berated on social media.  I know for myself, it just makes me dig in deeper and hold an even stronger version of my already formed opinion.  I keep my thoughts about it quiet and to myself, but I'm just being honest about what is going on in my mind.
7.  Stay away from people!  It is killing me not to see my mom and in laws, but it is for the best.  I did finally go to see my mom on Tuesday and it was a bad idea.  Literally less than 2 hours after I saw her I found out that a passenger on Jamie's return flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Buffalo on the 13th was later diagnosed with Corona.  It wasn't Jamie or any of his friends, but they are now self-quarantined until the 29th as a precaution.  The bottom line is none of us know if we were exposed or not, so just stay home!  He found out about it from the Buffalo news, several days later.
8.  Enjoy your family.  Reassure your kids that things will eventually return to normal.  Play board games, build blanket forts, and have family movie nights!
Hugs to everyone!  Virtual hugs, of course!





Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Friday Night with Friends

I never blog anymore, but I just needed to list my url to join Friday Night with Friends.  I'm going to give it a whirl and will hopefully get something fun done.  I love to sew and craft but I never blog to document what I do.  Maybe this will change things!

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Pink Penguin Jumbo Lunch Bags for a Favorite Things Party


So I got invited to a favorite things party.  Say what?  I had never heard of anything like that before.  It was so much fun!  You were to bring 3 of something that you love and you would go home with 3 different things.  It was a blast.

Thing is, I couldn't give an empty lunch bag, so I packed lunch in it.  What would my favorite things be for lunch if I could take anything I want and not get fired from teaching?  Glad you asked...  A bottle of wine from our local winery, and treats from our local Sweet Shoppe.  Doesn't that sound like the perfect lunch?  I think that the recipients really liked them.  Who knows for sure because we all have different taste...  The important thing is that it was a fun night out with some great ladies on a cold wintry night.

On a side note - I make my bags much larger than the tutorial.  You could carry a gallon of milk and then some in these bags, although that wouldn't be my beverage of choice!  Increased size measurements can be found here.

Saturday, December 26, 2015

10 Open Wide Noodlehead Pouches




I made the medium size Noodlehead Open Wide Pouches for Christmas gifts to give at work.  I was pleased with how they turned out and how well they were received.  I put some candy, lip gloss and lotion so they weren't empty and so that the recipients would get the idea that they might be able to use them as makeup bags.



I am not sure about all of the fabrics but the orange florals and matching fabric are from Denise Schmidts DS Quilts line at Joanns, the green/blue, yellow black, red/black and royal blue are mostly from my local fabric store, the pink/orange fabrics are Joel Dewberry, purple squirrels are Tula Pink and I have no idea where the teal/aqua/red came from - Joann's maybe?









I am not always pleased with how my projects turn out but I am very happy with these pouches.




This is the link to Anna's free tutorial!  And you can find the instructions for all of the different sizes here!









Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Two In One Pattern Tester for Sotak Handmade!





Oh my goodness I have excited to share this project.  Svetlana of Sotak Handmade was looking for pattern testers for her new two in one pouch and I was lucky enough to test for her!  When I saw she was looking for people I contacted her, never thinking I would get to do it and was completely blown away when she contacted me to pattern test for her.


The funny thing is, I had been wanting to make a double zip pouch for a while and couldn't find a good tutorial or pattern.  I even tried to come up with my own (a zipper compartment within another zipper compartment) and was not happy with my results.  This pattern is exactly the type of thing I had been trying to do on my own without any success.



I used Boho by Urban Chiks fabric and am quite pleased with how it turn out.

Svetlana's pattern is fun and easy to follow.  I highly recommend it!  I will definitely be making more of these for Christmas gifts.
A great big thank you to Svetlana of Sotak Handmade for letting me test your pattern.  You are like a rockstar in the sewing/blogging world and I am just little old me.  What an honor!  What are you waiting for?  Go buy the pattern and make some of these, they are awesome!

Saturday, November 8, 2014

KitchenAid Mixer Cover Using a Tutorial from Carla at My Half Dozen Daily




I have followed Carla's blog at My Half Dozen Daily for a few years.  She is such an inspiration.  The lady can budget, cook and sew like nobody's business.
I made this using her mixer tutorial.  It was easier than I imagined it would be.  I added jumbo ric rac not knowing if it would really work out or not.  It fit perfectly into the bias trim that I made with 2 inch strips.  The bias helped to keep the ric rac straight.  I then sewed on top of the ric rac, clase to the edge with orange thread to keep if from curling up over time.  You can see I have a blue countertop and orange walls, so I thought the fabrics were a nice choice.  They are DS Quilts from Joann fabrics.
If you don't follow Carla's blog, you really should.  She is such an inspiration to me!

Freezer Cooking - Lasagna Day!



Today is big batch of lasagna day!  My family is coming for dinner so the 2 metal pans are in the oven baking right now.  The other 5 pans (3  9x13 and 2  8x8) are already in the freezer.  This batch should last us through the winter months!